Naruto: Captured Sidestories
by EdStargazer
Summary: Sidestory to Naruto: Captured. Splits off at Chapter 10. Find out what happens the other characters that you don't see in Captured. Story Tags refer to original story. Chapter 5: Journeys
1. Forest

This is a side story to Naruto: Captured. It branches off in the main story during Chapter 10 and rejoins the main story at the end of Chapter 14. I hinted at a few things and some glimpses of the events in this story are mentioned but not expanded on. Those points will be given here up through the end of the fighting in the exams themselves and the start of the actual Invasion.

I am using the same tags as the main story so if you came here looking for Naruto and or Sakura, I apologise.

* * *

**Captured: The Chunin Exams**

"I. Sarutobi Asuma, do nominate my squad of Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino for the Chunin Selection Exams," said Asuma.

"I, Yuuhi Kurenai, do nominate my squad of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba for the Chunin Selection Exams," said Kurenai.

"I, Might Guy, do nominate my squad of Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten for the Chunin Selection Exams," said Guy flashing his bright smile.

"I, Kara Saito, do nominate my squad of Jimei, Sukima and Uchiha Sasuke for the Chunin Selection Exams," said Saito.

The list went on and on as the squads of military ninja followed the Elites in nominating teams for the Chunin Exams.

* * *

Over two hundred promising genin got recommended due to Konoha hosting the Exam. Tradition allowed the host to test as many as they wanted since there was no travel involved. The clans and Elites viewed it as necessary to allow more Elites to make it to the final rounds instead of taking each other out early on. The military ninja did not like the situation but they dealt with it because after a genin team had been nominated at least once they would soon gain promotion based on merit, not the Exams.

None of this registered on the teams of Elites that found themselves outnumbered in the Exam room by a mass of genin for Konoha that they had never seen before. Team 8 and Team 10 both huddled quietly in one corner as Elites from other villages bantered with the older Elites and more rowdy military teams.

Ino was quiet as she thought about her fights with Sakura a few days prior. 'I am not really sure if I should be here. A few days of intense training is not enough to make a proper ninja out of me,' she thought with a look on her face.

"Ino, relax," Shikamaru broke into her thoughts with a quiet statement. "I know it is troublesome but Asuma-sensei has enough faith in us to be here. Now that we are aware there are things we lack, we can take them into consideration. We work as a team and we'll be fine"

Ino gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Shika.

Further into the corner and slightly behind her teammates, Hinata tried to pull her jacket closer around her body. Her self confidence had taken another major hit in the previous months when her object of inspiration had failed to graduate and vanished into the mass of other ninja she had never cared to see prior to that time. Her clan looked down on the military ninja as something to be disdained. The clan would remove a ninja from active service to Konoha before allowing that person to serve as anything less than Elite.

When Naruto had re-appeared, it was due to a manhunt for the blonde. He was wanted for questioning in an attack on a teacher. The pink haired Sakura was also included in that search but Hinata barely considered that girl. ANBU operatives had questioned her regarding her knowledge of Naruto but she honestly told them she had no contact with the boy since he had failed the Academy graduation test. A part of her wanted to yell at the blank masked ninja that Naruto-kun would never do something like that. Her low confidence kept her quiet and no hint of such thinking ever surfaced.

Kiba was talking at Shino who was just nodding at appropriate times. The boys kept a watch on Hinata and saw her more as a shy little sister and team support member than as a full team member. Neither one had seen what she had under her jacket either. Her silence and meek attitude suited Kiba just fine as he saw himself the leader of the team if Kurenai was not around.

Uchiha Sasuke strode into the exam room as if he owned the place and was assured of a place as a chunin. His teammates looked almost as nervous as the rookies. Sasuke paid them no mind as he looked over the occupants. Over two hundred ninja from a half dozen villages stood around with their teams. His ego automatically put himself over all of them. A silver haired teen a few years older than him was staring at him quite hard but Sasuke dismissed him as a fanboy. He had no time for such things. He had no interest in anything other than his vengeance on his brother and this exam was the next step in getting strong enough to do that.

He walked to an open place near one wall and waited. Off to one side, a team from the new Sound village watched with an apparent attitude just waiting for someone to goad them into attacking. 'Weaklings,' Sasuke thought. The large number of Konoha genin did surprise him. He did not recognize most of them and realized all but a few teams were the 'low class' military ninja. 'This will be all too easy,' he thought as a number of jonin and chunin appeared in a cloud of chakra smoke at the front of the room.

"All right you maggots, find you name on the seating chart my associate is placing on the wall and get into your assigned seats. Failure to be in your assigned seat means both you and your team will be removed from the exam," the exam proctor said in a rough voice.

Morino Ibiki loved messing with people's minds. His skill was so great that he could have been a despot in a small country and made the people glad they had him. Even so, he preferred his current position as the head of Konoha's Torture and Intelligence division. He got all the tough ones and he relished tearing them down into broken ninja who quivered in fear at his entering the room. He also enjoyed needlepoint for relaxation.

Ibiki quickly outlined the rules of the exam. He started it with the simple command of 'Begin' and leaned back to watch the feeble attempts of the genin to cheat. The look of dismay on most of their faces when they read the question made him chuckle. The ones who realized they needed to cheat had all assumed a peculiar look and with hand signs he set the other proctors to work. He allowed his eyes to unfocus slightly. That allowed him to see the movements in the room in general and saw the motions of those genin who were cheating. He didn't clue in his proctors but rather kept his own notes to compare later and evaluate his own people's ability.

Unnoticed by most, the clock on the wall began making a ticking sound with each second that passed. The sound would grow progressively louder during the exam. The other unique thing about the clock was that the second hand moved in reverse. It was a subtle touch someone had come up with years before. One more bit of added pressure to make them aware their time was slowly passing

He chuckled at how bad some of this crop of genin was at cheating. It was not even five minutes in when the first person was ejected. It was sadly predictable that the military ninja would be worst at spying techniques. Most of them never dealt with that kind of mission and few had enough skill to do it effectively. 'That's one more thing to suggest to the Hokage about improving the testing methods. This test is geared to allow the Elites to pass at the expense of the military ones. I bet if they had the survival test before this one there would be few Elite teams here,' he thought.

In the time it took Ibiki to think that, another five teams had been pulled out. His grin dulled when he heard on chunin call out. "Number 42, you fail!" Another chunin called out seconds later. "Number 101 and 17 go with him."

A roar of rage sounded in the testing room. 'The first Elite team to go down and it happens to be the one containing Uchiha Sasuke,' Ibiki thought. 'Very interesting.'

"No! I have not failed," cried out Sasuke. "I wasn't cheating at anything and I shouldn't have to pay for my loser teammates mistakes!"

"Uchiha Sasuke," Ibiki spoke in a low tone of voice but even so it carried enough power and authority to silence the ranting boy. After Ibiki had Sasuke's attention, the jonin continued.

"You either pass or fail as a team in this exam. It is just like a mission. If one member causes a mission to be blown, the entire team must deal with the consequences. Your team member failed in his mission of passing this exam and now the whole team must pay for that failure by being removed from it. Those are the rules. There is no appeal. Show some dignity and leave quietly or I will become … upset."

The final word sent a chill through most of the genin there as it was laced with a heavy amount of killer intent. Few had ever dealt with that much at once and only a handful kept their eyes up and looking at Ibiki. Sasuke even shuddered. He quieted and left in a huff after that but he left in silence.

Ibiki stopped once the Uchiha was out of the room and he heard a number of gasps around the room. He noticed the cheating had stopped for most of the people there. He made a few notes on his pad of the ones who continued cheating immediately. Those were the ones worth keeping an eye on for possible advancement.

Forty minutes into the exam, Ibiki spoke again. "Number 13, you fail. Get your teammates and leave." An older looking genin stood in silence and walked out with his completed exam still sitting on the desk. Two other older genin with complete tests also stood and left. None of the three said a word in protest.

Ibiki got to the part he loved best, the tenth question. He looked at the 102 genin still remaining in the room. 'Already over half have failed the test. Now we test the nerve of the ones remaining,' he thought.

"Alright, listen up. It is time for you to hear the tenth question. But before I give it, you have to decide if you are even going to take it," he said in his deep voice.

"Why wouldn't we take it?" one brave genin asked.

Ibiki looked and smiled almost cruelly at the boy who flinched under the jonin's gaze. "As I said, you have to decide to take the tenth question or not. If you take it and get it wrong, you will never be allowed to take another Chunin Exam and you will be forever stuck as a genin."

"Y-you can't do that," the formerly brave boy stuttered out.

"My test, my rules," Ibiki said calmly. "But, I will be generous and allow anyone who does not wish to risk a lifetime as a genin to quit now. It will not be held against you and you can test again in six month. Now then, are you willing to bet your career on if you can get this question correct?"

The jonin only stood in silence after that. The genin arrayed before him all began to think. Ibiki watched their faces and saw the indecision on many faces. The silence was also a tool of his as he just let them stew. Once someone broke, it would start a mass of teams quitting.

Slowly, one 14 yr. old genin near the back raised his hand. "I can't do it, I quit." Most of the heads in the room turned to him. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can get another question right after the first nine were so hard."

A number of genin nodded at that view and many more began to quit. A few squawks of protest sounded from teammates of the ones who quit but they left orderly. The number trickled off as the large group left. Ibiki looked around the room once more. One team from the Grass village decided to leave and an older Konoha team with a white haired boy with glasses did as well. That last one leaving surprised Ibiki as he recalled that boy from advancing to the next stage in previous exams.

"Anyone else? This will be you last chance to leave."

The remaining genin looked nervous but determined. Ibiki gave a quick count. '48 remaining, not too bad. Even a few of Konoha's military ninja made it through as well.' Ibiki nodded and the door in the back of the room was closed.

"Everyone remaining in this room has passed the first exam," he stated.

The genin all looked shocked at the statement but one spoke up. "How did we pass it? You never asked the last question."

"Deciding to even take the tenth question WAS the question. The correct answer was to take it. In your career you will be faced with such choices. You were assigned to a mission and it is vital that it be completed. You cannot turn it down partially completed because you are uncertain that you will come through it intact. The nerve to press on into the unknown is needed in chunin. They are expected to be leaders and turning away from a mission simply because you might die is not a trait of someone who should be a chunin."

The window shattered as a ball of cloth was hurled through it. The cloth tarp opened up as kunai attached to the corners flew out and embedded into the ceiling. There was a woman on a tan trench coat grinning in front of the tarp that read 'Mitarishi Anko, Second Examiner'

"You're early Anko," Ibiki growled out.

"Well, I figured these kids don't need a long boring lecture from a guy they are all scared of," she replied with a grin.

Hinata looked at Anko amazed. The woman was slightly above average height, just under five and a half feet, but she commanded a presence larger than her size. She was dressed in a fitted chain mail outfit under her coat that at first glance appeared to show everything. But after a few moments, Hinata realized the woman had no skin exposed between her neck and lower thighs. The short leather skirt was more to distract onlookers than to actually cover anything. The backing that could barely be seen through the links was flesh colored to add to the appearance if indecency. The Hyuuga blushed as she realized she was staring but the woman in front of her was a true kunoichi. Kurenai-sensei might be a good ninja and caring person but Anko was the kind of person who could be taken seriously from the moment she was seen. If Hinata could be confident like that, her father would surely want her as heir.

"Wow, only 48 left. You really got to them this time, Ibiki," Anko said to the imposing proctor. She then turned to the waiting genin. "All right, now you kiddies belong to me. I am Mitarishi Anko, proctor for the second test of the Chunin Exams. You will follow me to Training Area 44, also known as the Forest of Death."

Anko chuckled as several older Konoha genin paled. 'They have heard of the place. I guess that helps make intimidation easier,' she thought. One aspect of the Exam was finding those mature enough to not be intimidated without over estimating their own ability. Promotion through the Chunin Exam was a good thing for any genin but the whole process was in reality a sales pitch for the allied villages. They could not fight openly so the Chunin Exams allowed them to show off their power in head to head competition and semi controlled conditions. She walked mechanically to her favorite place after the dango stand, Training Area 44. She noticed a blonde haired boy doing sit ups with his feet holding on the bottom of a branch through chakra and smiled.

* * *

Once Anko arrived at the forest, she turned back to the genin. "Each team will be given a single scroll. It will be either a heaven scroll or an earth scroll. The objective is to reach the tower in the center with both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. This means you will have to acquire one from another team."

She held up a number of papers. "To get your scroll, I will need each team member to sign this form releasing Konoha from any liability in the event of your demise. You trade three completed forms for the scroll."

"What if we don't sign them?" a dull looking Grass ninja asked.

Anko smiled evilly. "Then you fail here and now and get sent home in shame," she replied.

Soon, all sixteen remaining teams had been given their scrolls and taken to one of the gates into the forest. Shino noticed one group had kept an eye on their team but they had been assigned a gate on the far side of the area. He considered telling this to Kiba and Hinata but decided not to. His teammates would be rattled by such information right now.

* * *

Team 10 rushed along the tree branches in silence as they made their way closer to the tower in the center of Training Area 44. Shikamaru decided that getting most of the way to the center early would allow them to see who was setting traps close to the building without actually needing to set some themselves. They paused to settle in to wait.

'The team has really changed this past week,' the lazy boy thought hours later. 'The sparring session Asuma-sensei had us do with Naruto and Sakura really opened our eyes.' The boy spent more time considering the events of that afternoon as Choji kept watch. He had a much better idea of what his team was capable of doing. His strategies in the brief sessions with Asuma had shown this as they made their instructor have to put some effort into beating the team. The team had taken the first step toward matching the reputation for teamwork that their fathers had set.

Choji really wanted to snack but he caught Shika's slight headshake 'no' earlier. After the sparring last week, he had a long talk with his father, Choza. The boy had learned a great deal about himself and his father that night. For the first time, both had talked as ninja instead of just as father and son. Choji came away with a new respect for his father. The boy smiled slightly as after that talk his father stopped adding '-kun' to his name.

Choji focused and paid more attention to the forest as he heard a squirrel moving around nearby. It slowly moved away from them only to halt once more before moving quickly in another direction. There was no sound of a predator attacking the rodent. Choji patted his leg twice to get his teammates attention and used a hand signal to let them know something was out there. Ino and Shikamaru both nodded.

"Guys, I need to take care of something," Choji said in a near normal tone of voice. "Nothing has bugged us since we got here so we should be safe."

Ino smirked as she got to play her part. "Gross Choji, don't do that here in front of me. Go over there in the bushes."

Choji walked carefully into the bushes and squatted down. Soon the sound of a stream of water hitting the leaves sounded.

The members of the Konoha military team that was stalking Team 10 were practically laughing to themselves. The heavy hitter on the squad they were about to ambush had just gone off to take a leak in the bushed. The leader motioned to his left and one member peeled off to stalk silently over to the oversized teen.

The fifteen year old thought that these rookie Elites were nothing special if they made such basic mistakes. He waited for the sound to start before he made his move. He closed the last distance in a few heartbeats only to find a somber Choji squirting water from a bottle onto the leaves. The bulky twelve year old poked the older boy in the throat to prevent him crying out a warning. It would not be a lasting injury but just enough to silence him.

The bush suddenly exploded outward with movement as Choji hurled the older boy into a tree. Shikamaru had used his shadow to find the other two members of the squad and immobilized the others. The Nara kept motionless as Ino went to each and searched for the needed scroll. Once she found it, Shikamaru stood and put his hands tight against his sides. The pair of military ninja mimicked the motion and Ino bound them with their own wire. Choji carried over the gasping boy he had taken down and held him while Ino tied that one as well.

Shikamaru took the scroll Ino handed him and smiled. They had a set now. "Thank you gentlemen," the lazy Nara said. "You should be able to get loose in about a half hour or so. Ino didn't bind you that tightly. Just tight enough for us to be long gone before you get free. We are on the same side you know." Team 10 then turned toward the tower and ran off.

* * *

Team 8 moved through the trees at a brisk pace. They had no clue what to expect in the forest so they kept alert. Akamaru was still learning so he rode in Kiba's lowered hood growling the things he was detecting in the language that Inuzuka understood. Shino had a wave of his bugs around them searching for chakra sources. Hinata kept her bloodline active but the nature of the forest limited her to only about twenty yards before the chakra sight was blocked. Shino steered them around a nest of giant leeches but there was no one close by to lure into a trap. The group continued onward for the rest of the day and found a place to rest as night fell.

Shino knelt in the dirt and drew a crude map of the forest from memory. "We should be approximately here." He pointed to a pebble, an acorn and a piece of bark he was using to represent them.

"Which one is me?" Kiba asked.

"The pebble represents you, Kiba," Shino replied.

"I want to be the piece of bark. Since Akamaru barks and all that," he finished lamely.

Shino just stared at his teammate for about ten seconds in silence before he continued.

"We should be approximately here. The tower in the center and the river running through the area is roughly a quarter mile away from us. We entered the forest at this point and circled around that region while hoping to find an opponent with no success." Shino pointed to each landmark drawn in the dirt as he mentioned each. "I suspect that since there are so few teams in this contest that most will center their activity closer to the tower in the hope of ambushing one or more opponents. After we rest we should concentrate on that strategy as well."

Kiba nodded as it was a sound plan. Hinata agreed with what was proposed. She rarely gave her opinion unless asked for it since joining the team.

The night passed uneventfully and before dawn Team 8 was moving once more. Hinata spied a few berry bushes and the team stopped to eat some of the ripe fruit to get rid of the taste of their field rations from breakfast. They searched for other teams but the others were either laying low or had moved closer to the center of the area. Several times they had come across a battle site but no other people.

Late in the afternoon on the third day, things changed.

Without warning, a lightning bolt came down through the trees and struck Shino. Every muscle in his body spasmed at once and he was throw back from the impact site into a tree. Steam rose from his jacket and burnt skin. The hissing and pops of his dead and dying destruction bugs barely covered the harsh rasp of his breathing.

Hinata checked out Shino's vital signs and found a pulse. "Kiba, he's still alive," she called out.

"You missed, Raikou," came a voice from high up in the trees. "You heard the girl. He's still alive."

"Oh shut up, Iwa," Raikou replied. "Next time you try hitting a moving target from twice the normal range and see how well you do."

Hinata saw three large men drop out of the trees around them into the range of her Byakugan vision. All three were wearing Leaf headbands but their attitudes were definitely not of someone from Konoha.

Kiba spoke up. "None of you are from Konoha. Your scents have too many things mixed in to be from around here. Why are you attacking us?"

The three ninja landed on the forest floor and could be plainly seen now. A tall thin ninja wearing tattered vest and his short dark hair teased into spikes spoke. "Well, my friends, Ame, Iwa and myself were passing through the region and heard about your village holding the Chunin Exams. We thought we could pick up a few tidbits. Like these nice souvenir headbands."

The large and powerfully built Iwa spoke next, "Nothing like knocking off a few up and coming ninja before they become a problem." He leered at Hinata now. "Plus, the fringe benefits can be quite enjoyable. Raikou, the girl is a Hyuuga and I don't see a seal on that forehead. There is a bounty out on any unsealed Hyuuga. Several of them in fact."

Hinata shrunk back and tried to hide inside of her jacket as Kiba stepped in front of her. "You'll have to get past me before you set a finger on Hinata." Akamaru barked and tried to seem threatening but there was not much a puppy could do here. The pup tried to bite an ankle on one of the enemies.

The nervous looking Ame kicked at Akamaru who scuttled back before the kick could land.

"I hate dogs. Filthy ceatures," he muttered.

Kiba growled at the insult and got ready to fight. Akamaru came to heel with Kiba as the boy took a classic Inuzuka battle stance with hands before him, fingers curled like they had claws.

Raikou just pointed and chuckled.

"Is he actually thinking he could threaten us? Boy, you are so going to get neutered for that."

Raikou pulled out a tanto and got into a stance of his own. Iwa ran through a series of hand signs before saying in a low voice, "Quicksand technique."

The ground under Hinata and the unconscious Shino suddenly got soft and gave way beneath them as if the pair were in water. Hinata grabbed her teammate and kept hold of him. His head slipped below the ground while she reached her hand out to grab onto the tree Shino had been resting against. She focused chakra into it and held on with just her palm and fingertips touching in the same manner as tree walking. Using more chakra to increase her strength, she pulled Shino's head free. She could not do much more while the large Iwa was focusing on his technique.

Ame pulled a staff from a storage seal and swung it at Akamaru while Raikou closed in on Kiba. Both were forced to dodge but this only served to separate them from Hinata and Shino.

Kiba bounced off a tree and counterattacked Raikou with a swipe of his hand only to get cut as the tall man defended himself. The boy landed and growled. 'I don't have room to maneuver down here but I can't just leave Hinata to get room to fight,' he thought.

Iwa continued to focus on his jutsu while his teammates. A few of the bugs Shino had out scouting had returned and landed on him but they could do little to the large man. He just focused on capturing the girl and disposing of the Aburame. Just then, Hinata managed to get a foot against a root and pushed off of that to get both Shino and herself free. She let Shino fall to the solid ground just out side of the jutsu.

Ame kept swinging at the agile Akamaru with his staff until the puppy jumped off a low branch and hit the enemy with his Dynamic Marking technique right in the face. Ame became enraged at this and set the staff down. He began producing shuriken and hurling them at the small dog. Akamaru dodged as best as he could but the weapons hit him in several places which knocked the puppy to the ground with a yelp. Ame took up his staff and went to stand over the downed dog. "You are so going to pay for that you mongrel!" Ame shouted as he lifted his staff overhead. He was going to bash the dog's head open.

Kiba saw this and shouted, "AKAMARU!" as he rushed over. Raikou swung his tanto as Kiba sped past and hamstrung the teenager. Kiba fell down over his partner and lifted his arms to try to deflect the blow from the staff. The chakra enhanced wood slammed into his forearms and shattered the major bones in both. Kiba went down with a scream of pain but continued to cover the fallen Akamaru. Ame was upset at having his attack blocked and began to hit Kiba repeatedly across the back.

"No!" Hinata cried out but the large Iwa blocked her path. "You think you are going to do something, little girl? All you are going to do is come with us and make us rich. We might even test out the merchandise ahead of time. But I am not sure why someone would pay good money for someone as weak and useless as you," he added with a sickening leer.

Hinata was beyond afraid. She was too weak to save her friends and now she would become a plaything to these disgusting men before being sold as a breeder in another country. Her mind raced

'_She is of no use to the clan,' Hnata overheard Hiashi tell Kurenai._

"No, I am not weak. I am not useless," she whimpered.

Tears slid down her face. Iwa saw them and taunted, "Going to cry for your mommy now, little girl?"

A heartbeat stretched out into eternity as a memory returned.

_Four year old Hinata was crying in her room after another painful practice session in the clan martial arts. The branch member who supervised was not cruel but he did not relent either. 'The future heir needs to be strong' he would say as he made her repeat the katas over and over. Her pregnant mother heard the sobs and came into the girl's room._

"_Oh, Sunshine, don't cry. The pain will pass soon enough," she said in a comforting tone._

"_But Kaa-san, Tou-sama said if the baby is a boy and I don't get better, I will end up like Neji niichan. I don't want to be a servant," Hinata said through her tears._

_The woman hugged her crying daughter, "Don't worry, Sunshine. I'll make sure that doesn't happen to you. I know you are strong enough to overcome anything. I believe in you._

_Five year old Hinata stood with the rest of the clan while a nurse held the newborn Hanabi. She could only look at her mother's picture now. No more being called Sunshine. Something broke in her that day. No one was left who believed in her._

_In her room, she found a letter delivered by a branch house member. It was handwritten on her mother's special stationary._

'_Hinata. I am sorry I will not be there for you. The labor has been difficult and the doctors fear for both of our lives. I want to tell you for all time. No matter where you are, no matter what you do, I know you are strong enough and powerful enough to accomplish what you need to. I believe in you. I love you, my little Sunshine.'_

Hinata blinked.

'Kaa-san believes in me,' she thought as something that was broken was now repaired.

'I have power,' was her next thought and from deep inside she found it. A closed door swung open and power was there. 'I have more than power,' as more and more flowed into her. 'I am strong,' she thought as her eyes opened.

Chakra exploded from Hinata's small form and threw back Iwa. She was covered in a rippling blue aura. The large man stood back up and closed to tackle the girl but she had taken a stance and attacked, pointing her first two fingers at him. She stopped a good foot away from his forehead but that did not matter. A spike of chakra extended from her fingers and embedded into his brain before exploding out the back. The man fell backwards and did not move, his sightless dead eyes staring out.

"Iwa!," cried out Raikou as he rushed over. Hinata swatted him aside and jumped over to Ame. The man held up his staff in self defense but Hinata's fingers struck swiftly as the chakra surrounding her enhanced her speed. The staff fell from his broken hands. Her fingers extended out and she struck randomly at his tenketsu points. Normal Gentle Fist only blocks and shuts down the point. Each one of Hinata's strike overpowered and destroyed them. Ame fell in agony as his body was torn apart.

Raikou was afraid now. The girl was turning to face him but he realized he had one chance now. He made a Kawarmi with a rock as she struck. He appeared behind Hinata and got his arm around her in a headlock and buried his tanto into her back. Hinata screamed and reacted.

Chakra flew out of each of her chakra points in the form of a two foot long spike. Raikou was impaled on dozens of places and whimpered. "Kaiten," whispered Hinata as she spun her body. The chakra spikes slid sideways through Raikou's body slicing him. Other spikes impacted on him as she rotated cutting him to bits. The shell of chakra hurled the parts of his body about the area.

Hinata fell to the ground with the tanto still embedded into her body. Even so, she smiled as her last conscious thought was a memory of her mother singing her a lullaby.

* * *

Next Chapter: Arena

* * *

End Notes: Before anyone jumps on me for 'Super-Hinata', she unknowingly opened the first three gates. That gave her more than enough to do what she did without really thinking about it. Her mental state is another matter and will be explored next time.


	2. Arena

Opening Shot: If you do not want spoilers for the manga, go straight to the chapter.

I was almost beside myself laughing at chapter 476. Naruto collapsing like that. But it is understandable he would have a reaction like that. Beyond a lot of power ups, the boy has had no character development since long before the Chunin Exams. Kishimoto pulling this after so long, the poor boy had an allergic reaction to a hint of development.

**

* * *

**

Arena

Akamaru managed to crawl out from under his master. The smell of blood was sickening and spread all over the area. He whined as he could finally see what was happening. Kiba had protected him from the twitchy ninja with the stick but now his Master was out cold from his injuries. Akamaru was also in no shape to do anything so he sat back on his haunches and began howling.

Minutes later, a team of military ninja arrived and saw the battle site. Akamaru growled and backed up as the team stood on a branch nearby. One jumped to the ground near Shino then called back to his team, "This guy is alive. He is Konoha. Check out the others!"

The other two pulled out small first aid kits and jumped down as well. One approached Akamaru slowly speaking in a quiet voice.

"Hey, boy. I need to get to your master there to help him." He pointed to his headband and held out his hand palm up for Akamaru to take in the scent. "See? I'm a friend and I need to help him."

"aka … maru, let … him by," whispered Kiba slowly through his pain. The dog spun but was slowed by his own injuries as he licked his Master's face.

"Oy, this big guy is dead. Same with this scrawny one," called his teammate. "The girl's alive but she has a sword through her. She is bleeding pretty badly. I don't think we should move her. We need professionals soon or she is going to die."

The ninja near Kiba cursed softly. The team had chosen him as field leader for this test. Now choosing between making it through the test or saving lives became his responsibility.

"Kenji, do you still have those signal flares in your bag?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do," Kenji replied as he realized that setting one off would disqualify them.

"Light one up. Hell, set them all off. The girl can't wait. Head to the treetops before you fire them to make sure they get seen."

Kenji just nodded and began climbing up the trees.

"Shinji, what do I do with the other guy? There are parts of him scattered all over the place," asked the girl tending to Hinata.

"Just leave it alone for now, Suki. Do what you can for the girl."

"hinata," Kiba whispered. "her name hinata."

Kenji looked over at his teammate. "Hinata? As in the Hyuuga heir?"

Kiba just nodded.

"Damn, doesn't that just piss in the rice? Them Hyuuga are going to throw a fit over this."

* * *

Roughly five minutes later, an ANBU squad arrived and took over the treatment of Team 8. Kiba was fading in and out of consciousness. A medic team was on standby near the Forest and was summoned. The ANBU were taking statements from the other team and clearing up the scattered body parts of Raikou.

Kiba had his arms immobilized by the medics and was given some painkillers. He was getting lifted onto a stretcher when he called over to Kenji. In a slow measured voice Kiba said, "You guys don't deserve to drop out for helping us. I have our scroll in my pack here. Take it. Go pass this test."

Shinji pulled out his own to check. The Heaven scroll Kiba offered made a pair with the Earth scroll he already had. He smiled.

Kenji looked confused. "We called for outside aid. Doesn't that disqualify us?" He looked at the ANBU and medics.

The medic team leader shrugged his shoulders and looked to the ANBU captain.

"You didn't call it for yourself. I don't see a problem with it. If anyone asks that is an official ruling," the captain said. "Just making the decision you did shows the qualities we look for in our chunin. If you hurry, you can make it into the tower before it gets fully dark too."

Shinji didn't waste any more time. He left quickly with his teammates.

* * *

Team 8 was rushed to the central hospital and the families were informed of the injuries. The only statement they had so far was Kiba's. He had remained awake as long as he could while shock closed in during the trip. He told what he remembered about the battle in the forest and he reported what Hinata had done to the enemy ninja. ANBU could determine most of the rest from the damage to the bodies.

Hinata was taken to emergency surgery. The medics had also left the sword in place until they could remove it under better conditions. This proved to be a good idea as the moment they removed the blade; blood began spewing from a cut artery. The doctors quickly repaired the cut with chakra before the girl could bleed out.

"What happened to this girl? She has extensive damage to her muscles and chakra burns all over her body," one doctor asked rhetorically under his breath.

One specialist in chakra related injuries was called into the surgery. She did a quick scan as the doctors worked on the sword wound and announced, "Somehow this girl had opened at least two, perhaps three of her Celestial Gates."

The doctors were stunned but now that they knew what caused the kind of injuries Hinata had sustained, they could deal with them more easily. They finished the surgery on her sword wound but were forced to wait while her chakra network recovered naturally from the chakra overload of a few hours before. Once that had happened, they could help with her healing through their own medical jutsu.

Shino had regained consciousness at some point during the transport to the hospital. He was severely traumatized by the loss of his bug colonies. The comforting hum of their communication being absent made him feel as if a part of himself had been removed. His parents met with him soon after a special Aburame medic team dealt with the dead bugs lodged inside his body.

"I must humbly apologize, Father," Shino began. "I let my guard down and I was stuck down by an enemy. All I can recall of the incident is the shock of being hit by the jutsu."

Shino's father, Shibi, only nodded. "It is true you let your guard down but the report of the Inuzuka boy on your team suggests that you were struck by a jonin level lightning attack. His partial statement suggests that the range was the determining factor in the attack. The enemy bantered and commented that the attack was from twice the standard range for the jutsu. This not only allowed you to survive but also was beyond the normal tracking range for both your hive and the Hyuuga girl's blood limit."

Shino nodded at this information when his father continued.

"Once you are released from the hospital, I will consult with the clan on how to proceed with your new colony. We have developed a new strain that has some interesting possibilities. I believe that it might be in our best interest to have someone young be the one to test it. As you are currently without a colony, I shall nominate you for this program."

Shino was shocked. Testing new strains was normally considered an honor in the clan and reserved for the best and the brightest. To anyone not Aburame hearing that, it would not sound like much but his father had just told Shino that he was still considered one of the rising stars of the clan.

* * *

The following morning, Kiba lay in a hospital bed fighting the urge to pull his arms out of the braces holding them and start scratching the stitched gash on his leg. The doctors had to strap him to the bed as a precaution to keep the boy from trying to escape. They needed to keep the broken bones of his forearms immobile for several days to be sure there would be no problems in the healing process. If the bones healed crooked, he would not be able to continue as a ninja. He fought back the urge to scratch again as his mother and sister were finally allowed in.

"Mom! Hana! How is Akamaru?" he said before they could say anything to him.

Inuzuka Tsume smirked and nodded at her son. "He is healing, just like you. The kennel is buzzing with the news of what you did for him. It was a brave thing you did, pup"

Kiba flushed slightly at his mother's praise.

His older sister Hana spoke next. "You saved his life, Kiba. If the strike did that to your arms, imagine what it would have done to Akamaru's skull? You would be needing a new partner right now."

"You just get better, pup," Tsume said. "I need to get going for now. I'm getting a brief from the ANBU on what happened in there. Those people who attacked your team killed another one and all the families are getting informed. You can tell me the rest later."

"Mom, I need to tell you this now. It was Hinata. She saved us all. I was down and those guys were taunting her. Then all of a sudden she exploded in chakra and got this look on her face. She was like a kami and swatted those men down. But that isn't the weird thing. The whole time; while she was killing them; she was smiling like she was happy. She scared me," Kiba ended with a whisper

Tsume just nodded and left to the meeting.

* * *

Morino Ibiki was not a happy man. Something had happened and he could not tell people exactly what had occurred. His people at T&I had managed to piece together a chain of events but things got dicey during the end. The Hyuuga girl was not waking up to give a statement. A statement had been given by the Inuzuka boy but that had been taken by someone else and was incomplete. The information had allowed them to make sense of the damage the girl had inflicted but exactly _how_ she had done so was the issue. Gentle Fist taijutsu was not supposed to be that powerful. The last body had even been cut to pieces. In theory, a chakra scalpel could deal that kind of damage but the scale of it was beyond anything ever seen before.

The other two bodies were more explainable. One had a chakra spike through the skull and out the back. That was simple shape manipulation. That was something the Hyuuga were skilled at. But shape manipulation like this was on a scale not seen since the days of the Yondaime and his Rasengan. The final body had his tenketsu points overloaded with enough chakra to destroy each. The amount it took to do that damage was impressive. The girl bore watching in the future if she recovered.

* * *

Hiashi sat in silence as he was informed of how his 'weakling' daughter had literally destroyed a trio of missing ninja. Two of them had been listed in the Bingo Book and were listed as low level jonin. He had never considered the potential for damage of the Gentle Fist. The clan had always considered it an art as much as a taijutsu style. Form and accuracy of execution were the primary goals of the clan instructors. Hinata had always been good at form. Her accuracy on opponents always had been lacking. The girl did not have the proper killer instinct to make the style work for her.

That made problems for Hiashi with the members of the clan who opposed Hinata as the future clan leader. Clan traditions said the clan leader must be the best and the strongest. In all other areas, Hinata was the perfect heir. She was intelligent, composed and had a sense of style in her dealings with some members of the clan. She could even have a maid feel like the servant was contributing something of value to the rest of the clan.

If Hiashi had his way, Hinata would never have been a ninja. Even with his own power, the rest of the clan refused to accept a non fighter as the clan head. This hurt the girl as she did not have the natural ability to harm others most ninja possessed. She needed inspiration to find her way. He was not stupid and was aware of her occasional activity of following the Uzumaki boy. He could not understand the attraction but allowed her to continue as it also honed her skills at stealth and tracking. The boy had an annoying tendency to shake pursuit but Hinata never had any trouble following him during her Academy days. However, the girl's skills had been slipping steadily since her graduation from the Academy. She had been quite emotional when the Uzumaki boy had failed to graduate.

The medical report was worse. The sword strike had destroyed one of her ovaries. That could severely hinder her ability to bear children. That alone would make her unable to be officially named as clan heir and later clan head. The clan members against her were already whispering in the compound. A cousin that supported Hinata had informed him of the decision of a majority of the Elders. Hinata would be rejected as heir and the Caged Bird seal would put her in the branch family.

Silently, he wished for the days before the clan had come to Konoha several generations ago. He could have dealt with such sedition and undermining of the clan head with a single swing of the headsman's axe. One of the agreements of entrance into Konoha had been to submit the clan to the village's justice. It weakened the clan head as he would have to show proof of a crime to explain away the deaths. The option of eliminating the Elders out of hand was no longer possible. Hiashi needed a way to stall the Elders long enough for Hinata to recover. Since he knew of their decision, he had the opportunity to use it to his own benefit.

Once he had gotten permission to speak, Hiashi stood and made a simple statement.

"The Elders of the Hyuuga clan have decided over my objection that Hinata's injuries coupled with their opinion of her skills have embarrassed the clan. They intend to remove her as a ninja and as clan heir. The decision to remove her as heir means she will be removed from the hospital at the earliest possible time and have the Caged Bird seal applied to relegate her to the Cadet branch of the clan."

As Hiashi expected, this caused a major uproar from Inuzuka Tsume. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN EMBARRASSED?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "She defeated several _jonin_ to save the lives of her team, one of whom is my _son_!"

Aburame Shibi stood next. "The decision of your clan is not logical, Hiashi. Your daughter has shown great ability during the test in a fashion that has never been seen before. It is also unconscionably cruel. She should be rewarded not punished."

Hiashi replied in a slow voice, "It is a clan matter. Your objections are noted but I cannot change anything while Hinata remains within the clan. So say the laws of Konoha that the Hyuuga agreed to when we joined the village."

Shibi narrowed his eyes at Hiashi. 'You are planning on doing something here Hiashi. I can tell by your words that this is not your choice. You want something from us but you cannot directly ask for help. Internal rule of clans cannot be infringed upon by others. That is why the Caged Bird seal remains a part of the Hyuuga clan. However, disputes between clans are settled through arbitration by the Hokage.'

Shibi turned to face Sarutobi. "Hokage-sama, The Aburame clan will not allow the person who saved our clan member to be punished in such a fashion. We claim the right of Blood Debt on Hyuuga Hinata and wish to exercise our right under the law to adopt her into our clan."

Tsume smiled ferally at Shibi. "Hokage-sama, the Inuzuka clan also wishes to exercise our right under the law to claim Blood Debt and to petition for the adoption of Hyuuga Hinata."

Sarutobi was surprised at how quickly a simple briefing for parents had turned into a full fledged inter-clan fight. He also recognized Hiashi's reluctance on the part of his daughter.

"Hiashi, it seems we have a full fledged inter-clan issue regarding your daughter. Blood Debt allows a clan to adopt persons who have done a great service for that clan. It gives the person so adopted full rights and privileges within the new clan even if they are a part of another clan. Since both the Aburame and Inuzuka have long standing objections to the Caged Bird seal of the Hyuuga, it cannot be applied to a person considered one of their clan."

Hiashi struggled to keep a smile off his face as he bowed to the Hokage.

"I am familiar with the law of Blood Debt, Hokage-sama. I must officially object to the claims by the Aburame and Inuzuka upon my daughter. I ask that the Hokage's office look into the specifics of the law when it has the opportunity to settle this issue. I will, of course, advise the clan that any actions toward Hinata must be halted until such time as you can rule on the claims."

Tsume smirked at Hiashi. "The Inuzuka will place a guard in the hospital to protect the welfare of our adopted member. We wouldn't want anyone removing her from the hospital and harming her. If that happened, there would be war between the Hyuuga and the Inuzuka."

"I shall also place a guard within the hospital," Shibi spoke up. "Until the Hokage has made a decision, we shall regard Hinata as an Aburame."

Hiashi nodded and merely said, "I understand."

* * *

Within the Forest of Death, the five day long second exam had finished. Five squads stood in the fighting arena; one from the Sand, one from the Sound, three from the Leaf. Sarutobi gave a quick talk on how the Chunin Exams was symbolically a war between the nations at peace. The finals would be a tournament of individual fights before potential clients the following month. However at the moment there were too many genin to fill the eight spots available for the tournament.

A coughing jonin named Hayate called down the first pair selected; Hyuuga Neji and Kenji of Konoha. The boy paled at being chosen to fight Neji but made his way down to the arena floor. He tried to think of a strategy against a Hyuuga but he only came to one conclusion. If he was going to fight to win he needed to risk blinding his opponent.

Neji looked at his opponent with a cold stare of disdain. "You should give up now. You are fated to lose this match," Neji said in an emotionless tone.

Kenji waited for the signal to start as he felt back into his equipment pouch. Shuriken, smoke bombs and a few explosive tags would be all he needed in this fight. He decided that even if he was going to lose, he would make sure he was remembered in his loss.

"That all you got?" Kenji taunted. "Fate? For trying to win this fight with a weak psych job like that you really must be on some serious drugs. I might not be an Elite like you, but I can still win this. Even if I lose, you will know that you had a fight on your hands."

Neji sneered and was about to speak again Hayate called out for the match to begin and Kenji swung his arm toward Neji. A trio of shuriken flew at the Hyuuga who merely leaned to one side to avoid them. Neji did not even bother to activate his bloodline and that was nearly his undoing. Trailing behind the shuriken was a trio of smoke bombs. They exploded at his feet. The small popping sound they made alerted him and he jumped away just before the smoke engulfed him.

Neji saw a red powder residue on his leg before glaring at his opponent. 'Red pepper capsules,' he thought. 'An eye irritant. Those would have caused me a lot of trouble.' His estimation of his opponent rose slightly but not into the range that Neji was concerned about losing. He looked only to find another group of pellets exploding at the point he was going to land. Neji cursed slightly and closed his eyes to protect them as he descended into the red cloud.

'Yes,' Kenji thought as he launched an explosive tagged kunai into the second cloud as Neji disappeared into it. 'Not strong enough to kill him but enough to shake him up and hopefully knock him out.'

The kunai had almost reached its destination when the cloud exploded outwards. A sphere of rotating chakra blocked the kunai and the blast. Neji was revealed inside the swirling chakra with his Byakugan active and glaring at his opponent.

"You have made me reveal something I had not wished known as yet. For that I commend you." Neji said with an angry tone in his voice. "But now, I will be forced to hold nothing back against you."

Neji did not train as hard as his sensei and teammate but in sparring against Rock Lee, he had been forced to increase his own speed to withstand the assaults. Neji quickly closed the gap to his opponent and struck several points on Kenji's torso.

Kenji was knocked backwards and rolled back into a standing position. He looked to Neji who stood almost arrogantly with his bloodline active and glaring.

"You will not be able to continue this fight," Neji said. "I have blocked your ability to mold chakra for several hours. Even now you have barely any chakra flowing through your body."

Kenji reached into his pouch and pulled out a pair of kunai. "You should have your eyes checked, Hyuuga. My chakra level is naturally so low that I barely use it for fighting. I can do the basic stuff like D and E rank jutsu needed to be a ninja but I don't rely on flash like you Elites." Kenji then charged.

Neji frowned. He had been assuming that this teen facing him had been intentionally holding his chakra down to confuse his Byakugan and hide his tenketsu points. With the revelation, Neji immediately changed his strategy. Kenji closed in and swung his kunai but altered his strike so the blade lay against the side of his forearm just before Neji struck his chest. Two steps past Neji, Kenji collapsed to the ground.

Neji simply said, "It is over." But his attention was drawn down to see the strap normally attached to his headband lying on the ground. It had been cut level with his right eye. A touch to his temple came away with a small amount of blood. If Kenji had not changed his strike at the last moment, he would be missing an eye.

Kenji rolled onto his back and gasped out, "I count coup" only loud enough for Neji to hear before passing out smiling. Neji just stood there as the medics came out and took Kenji away before he turned and walked up to the balcony in silence.

* * *

The screen flashed up the next pair of names; Sabaku no Gaara and Yamanaka Ino. Shikamaru looked over at his teammate, "Ino, if it gets bad out there, you can forfeit."

"Don't worry Shika," she replied. "He is shorter than me and scrawny to boot."

Choji looked as the redhead used a sand shun shin jutsu to get to the arena floor while Ino walked down the stairs. "Be careful Ino," he murmured.

"Will you validate my existence?" the boy said in a quiet voice as Ino got into a ready stance. Gaara just stood motionless as Hayate made the signal to start. Ino closed and used basic taijutsu kicks at Gaara but each one was blocked by sand before the strikes could connect. Ino grunted as it felt like she was kicking rocks.

Gaara merely stood looking at her as if trying to decide what to do. The sand then began moving at Ino so she dodged and retreated as it seemed to track her every motion.

"Will you validate my existence?" Gaara said a second time. Ino kept backing away until the sand trapped her ankles and held her in place before flowing up her legs.

"INO! GIVE UP!" Shikamaru yelled.

"INO!" screamed Choji.

Ino was about to panic when she looked at Gaara once more. The redhead had not moved an inch from his starting point. 'One shot to use my mind attack,' she thought as she brought her hands up before her face.

"Shintenshin no jutsu (Mind Body Switch)" she said. Her arms fell and her head bowed but she was held standing by the sand up to her waist.

Gaara got a confused look on his face and started to open his mouth to speak when Ino's head shot up and back as if she had been shocked. The sand fell away from Ino before Ino and Gaara screamed in unison. Both fell to the ground and lay unmoving with eyes staring out in terror.

Hayate rushed closer to the motionless genin. Neither one responded to his inquiries. "This match is over! Medics!" he called out.

The blonde girl from the Sand looked terrified as well, "No! Gaara can't sleep! We'll all die!" she yelled. The boy in what looked like cat pajamas to Hayate tried to calm her down but she just got as far back from the arena as she could and looked for an exit. The cat suit boy was talking loudly to get her attention.

"Look Temari, the sand isn't moving. Something happened with that blonde girl and he is out but not asleep. It's not loose." A good number of the jonin heard that as well as the Sand jonin with them tried to hush him up.

The medics were going over Ino and Gaara and calling out to one another. Within minutes, both teens were lifted onto stretchers and taken away.

* * *

Hayate looked up to the Hokage who gestured that things should keep going. The screen flashed a few names before settling on the next match; Dosu of Sound and Shinji of Konoha. Both genin made their way down to the floor and faced off.

Shinji pulled out a kunai and stood ready to attack. Dosu grinned and did the same. He could handle a knife fight right now. The more secrets of the Sound he kept hidden, the better. Orochimaru's lackey, Kabuto, had briefed them on what to expect from the ninja of Konoha. The Elites loved their flashy jutsu while the military tended to be more direct, more like true ninja from other villages.

Hayate signaled for the match to begin and both teens rushed at each other. The kunai rang on impact with a metallic clang. The pair grappled like that for a few seconds before Shinji lowered his body and went for a leg sweep. Dosu leapt back and hurled his kunai toward Shinji's chest.

Shinji needed to block the knife because he could not move out of the way in time. Dosu took that split second to land and charge in swinging his right arm at the Konoha ninja. Shinji began lifting his left arm to block when he was wracked with a bad case of vertigo. The room began to spin in his vision and he froze. The impact of Dosu's fist in his face threw Shinji to the ground. He shook his head trying to get his bearings when it was pulled back and he felt the blade of a kunai pressed on his throat.

"Dosu wins," Hayate called before the Sound ninja could slit the throat of the downed teen. The medics came and lifted onto a stretcher and took him away while Dosu walked back up to the balcony.

* * *

"Akimichi Choji and Sabaku no Temari," called out Hayate after reading the board.

Both genin made their way to the arena floor but both seemed distracted by what happened between Ino and Gaara. Hayate called out for the fight to begin.

Before his team sparred with Naruto and Sakura, he would have immediately tried his clan's signature move, the Meat Tank. Instead, he took what he had learned that day and moved to attack more directly to start. Choji rushed forward towards Temari but was fully expecting her to counter. He was not disappointed when she swung her fan in his direction unleashing a wind jutsu. With an agility that surprised her, he pushed off to one side, rolled off his shoulder and was back on his feet before Temari could make a backswing.

Cursing under her breath, Temari jumped away from Choji.. She needed range for a majority of her jutsu to work properly. She found Choji to not conform to her idea of what a large ninja should be able to do. The chubby boy was much faster than she originally thought.

Choji pursued the blonde as she retreated from him. 'One wind jutsu to start off means she has more of them. The fan is a giveaway for that. I have to stay at close range,' he thought as he moved after her.

Temari cursed under her breath as Choji pursued her. She landed on a patch of sand and skidded an additional few feet before she could stop. She glanced down and the memory of Gaara being carted off comatose returned full force. Then she felt pain as the large fist of Choji impacted on her face.

Temari swung her fan closed as she rolled with the blow. She held the closed fan by its base and swung it full force at Choji's stomach. The boy tensed and took the blow with only a grunt before his fists slammed down on the weapon. There was a crash as the force of his blow loosed it from Temari's grip and down to the floor.

Choji stepped forward over the fallen weapon so Temari couldn't reclaim it. He shoved the girl to the ground as he did so. Temari just stared up at the boy wide eyed. She had decked chunin with a blow like that dozens of times. This kid was not even fazed by it and looked ready to pummel her into submission.

"Proctor, I give up!" she called out as Choji raised his fists into the air over her.

"Winner, Akimichi Choji," announced Hayate.

Choji stood for a moment before lowering his arms. Then to the surprise of many people on the balcony, he held out his hand to Temari to help her stand up. The blonde teenager looked at it shocked for a moment before taking hold of the large hand. Choji effortlessly pulled Temari to her feet and turned to head back to the balcony.

* * *

"Next match, Suki of Konoha against Sabaku no Kankuro," Hayate announced.

Kankuro stepped down to the floor of the arena and waited for the girl to get into position. He pulled the large wrapped pack off his back and laid it on the ground near the stairs. He walked over to Hayate and assumed a taijutsu ready stance in silence. Suki glanced over at the Sand ninja then over to the pack and back before pulling out a kunai in each hand.

"Begin," Hayate called out.

Suki looked as if she would rush Kankuro when she turned and hurled the pair of kunai directly at the cloth wrapped pack. Kankuro suddenly moved as if yanked and was in front of the kunai in a split second. A puff of smoke later and Kankuro was revealed to be a puppet of some kind.

The pack opened to reveal the true Kankuro. "You weren't fooled at all, were you?" he asked.

Suki smirked. "We get briefs on allies in case we need to work with them. Suna is famous for its puppet users."

Kankuro nodded. "Well, if we were enemies, I would give you the honor of dying under my poisons. Instead, I am just going to hurt you a bit before ending this," he said. He wiggled his fingers and the puppet attacked Suki.

The girl fought a valiant defense but the four arms quickly proved to be more than she could stop. In under a minute she was hissing in pain at bleeding puncture wounds on her arm and thigh.

"Those contain a poison, girl. If you do not get the antitoxin in a few hours, you are dead. Surrender and I will provide the antidote.

Suki growled in pain. She looked at the weapons poised to strike her again and noted the slight green color on the blades. "Fine. Proctor, I surrender," she grumbled out.

Kankuro reached into a pouch on his hip and passed Suki a single use ampoule. "A single dose of the cure to the poison. Don't drop it. You need to take it all to be sure it will work."

Suki glanced at it and pulled up the hem of her shirt. She pressed it against the skin of her belly and pushed the button. A slight hiss later, the antitoxin was in her system and she was limping off back to the balcony.

'Tough chick,' Kankuro thought. 'I like her.'

* * *

"Next Match, Nara Shikamaru against Tsuchi Kin," Hayate announced

'Troublesome, I am getting a bad feeling of deja vu,' Shikamaru thought.

Kin smiled evilly. 'This should be easy,' she thought. The girl already had her senbon prepared. She would earn praise from Orochimaru-sama by advancing to the Finals. Their mission to kill Uchiha Sasuke could not be followed up on. Since the boy had not made it past the test due to his teammate failing, they had to make sure one or more of them made it to the Finals in order to have a reason for more Sound personnel to be nearby. Dosu had moved on and now she could prove she could as well.

"Begin," called Hayate once more.

Kin pulled her hand back to hurl her senbon the Nara knelt and made a hand sign. The senbon flew over his head as a black line stretched out to touch her shadow. She began to reach for the belled senbon when she found she could not move.

"Shadow Possession success," Shikamaru said in a dull tone.

Kin found her body moving identically to the Nara boy as he moved to dump out his kunai pouch. Her blades clanged against the floor. The boy knelt down on the ground and grabbed air but her own hand closed on a kunai handle. Terror filled her mind as her arm came up to her neck to press the edge against her neck.

"Give up," Shikamaru said simply.

Kin shouted back at him, "No!"

She saw Shikamaru pull his empty hand back and twist slightly. Kin felt the point of the blade cutting her own cheek.

"It doesn't hurt me to do this," Shikamaru said in a quiet voice. "Proctor, I can make her slice her throat at any time. Would you call that unable to continue?"

"No!" cried out Kin once more. "I'd rather die than give up like this!"

Hayate looked up to the Hokage who only shook his head 'no'.

"I declare Tsuchi Kin subdued and unable to continue. Winner, Nara Shikamaru," Hayate said.

Shikamaru released his jutsu and Kin fell to her knees.

The only thought in her head was how her Master would react to her loss. She shuddered in fear that the spectators all misjudged the act as something else.

* * *

"Next Match, Tenten of Konoha against Zaku of Sound," called out Hayate. On the balcony, Lee made a sound of protest at being the only genin not chosen for a fight.

"Wait, Hayate-san," Sarutobi called down. "At this moment there are eight genin remaining. This fight will be fought as the first match of the Finals."

"As you say, Hokage-sama," Hayate replied.

Sarutobi called the remaining genin down to the arena floor. The five that won matches and the three that had not fought.

"I congratulate the eight of you remaining. You all will participate in the Exam finals n one month's time. The first match will be Tenten against Zaku of the Sound village. The second match will have Rock Lee in it. The remainder of you will draw lots to see who battles him and the remaining four positions in the tournament."

Hayate appeared with a small box and went to each person in turn. Dozu, Shikamaru, Neji, Kamkuro and Choji each drew a paper and spoke out the numbers.

Sarutobi looked at the list a chunin handed him and nodded.

"The first round of the Finals will be the following matches."

"Tenten of Konoha against Zaku of Sound."

"Rock Lee against Dosu of Sound."

"Sabaku no Kankuro again Akimichi Choji."

"Nara Shikamaru against Hyuuga Neji."

"I wish you all luck during the Finals.

* * *

Next Chapter: Hospital

* * *

End Notes: I am not dead! I have had a number of personal issues happen that needed attention and caused my writing to suffer. I am back once more and hope to remain so. All complaints about my time between posts will be placed in the appropriate folder.


	3. Hospital

Note to Readers: All activity within the mindscape is noted in _italiacs_.

* * *

Hospital

**Ino**

The medics rushed the pair of Gaara and Ino to the hospital together. The Sand jonin was adamant about going with the red head and seemed to be on the edge of panic the entire time. He just hovered close to Gaara and seemed torn between concern and fear. The jonin's hand kept reaching toward his kunai pouch then suddenly pull away each time. The medics made sure to bar him from the treatment room.

Once both genin remained unresponsive, the Yamanaka were brought in to try their jutsu. They had one that could break the Shintenshin jutsu if one of their clan became stuck. Inoichi and two of his cousins stood ready to cast their breaker jutsu on Ino. One of the cousins took the lead since Inoichi knew he was emotionally compromised by the situation but he refused to be left out completely.

The jutsu was made and the mind of the cousin tried to pry Ino free from Gaara's mind. For a few moments all three men stood still before the lead flinched back as if struck. He grabbed his head in both hands and fell backwards. Slowly standing back up, he looked to Inoichi and spoke in low tones, "We need to tell the Hokage this situation is much more complicated than we thought. The boy is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi and the demon will not let your daughter's mind go free."

That statement brought everyone to a halt. The doctors and nurses in the room unknowingly took a step back away from Gaara

_

* * *

_

Ino finished her Shintenshin and looked out of Gaara's eyes for a moment and she smirked. She was about to make the red head give up when something tugged at her consciousness. Ino screamed and blacked out as a creature of nightmares grabbed her and pulled her deeper into her victim's mind.

_The blonde girl awoke in a rocky cavern. She noticed empty caves led out from the area she was in as she stood and looked about. 'Eww, sand everywhere,' she thought as she stood and brushed off her skirt. 'This must be the Sand kid's mindscape. That thing, whatever is was, must have dragged me down here. This is bad. Shintenshin is not supposed to get me this far into a person's mind.'_

_A hot breeze blew over her body and she felt the heavy tread of something through the sand. Ino looked behind her to see a huge tanuki made of sand rise up behind her. The beast towered over her and growled. The thing that caught her attention however was a strange collar around the beast's neck. The collar had the kanji for 'Seal' on it. Huge metal rods extended out from the collar in four directions well past its body._

_Ino reacted like most 13 year old girls would; she screamed and ran away down a cave tunnel to get away from the thing. The beast pursued her to the opening but it could not fit through with the rods on the collar preventing it from entering. Ino continued deeper into the cave hoping to find the exit from this prison._

* * *

Sarutobi was upset by the news but not really surprised. Reports from Jiraiya had said the Sand's most recent container for the Ichibi was about this age. His feelings were due to not being told ahead of time that the boy was in this exam. He would have excluded the boy from the preliminaries if he had known.

"ANBU will keep guard on both the Sand genin, Gaara and the Yamanaka girl. We don't know how this will affect either of them but we must get that mind jutsu cancelled somehow without killing either. If the Yamanaka clan has a plan to free them from this, let them try it. Until then all we can do it wait and hope the girl can free herself.

_

* * *

_

_Ino wandered around the caves and caverns of Gaara's mindscape almost at random. This was definitely the weirdest experience she had ever had. She paused to rest for a minute. The pattern to caves themselves was constant but the diameter of the caves kept changing. Sometimes the passages would be barely large enough for her to pass through. A bit later on the beast would be able to pass. It gave no real place to hide so she needed to keep moving. She had seen signs of the boy whose mind this was but so far she had not caught up the boy._

_The cave wall she was leaning on suddenly pulled back as the passage she was in expanded once more. She had to get moving again. That thing would be after her once more. It roared in the distance as it grew nearer to her. Then a red headed boy ran around the corner of the widening tunnel and straight into Ino._

_The pair fell into a heap as the eave kept expanding around them into a cavern room. 'It's Gaara,' Ino thought. 'But he is supposed to be my age. This Gaara is just a little kid.'_

"_It's coming, it's coming!" Gaara cried out. "Get out of my way!" The boy ran down the tunnel and Ino got up and chased after him. She did not want to see the beast up close again either._

'_The passages must widen and contract based on where Gaara is. That means no matter where he is that beast can get him. If his mental self image was of a kid about six or seven years old, he had no real mental growth happen in all that time," she muttered as she kept pace with the boy._

"_You're not supposed to be here," Gaara said to her in an angry voice. "Did my father send you here to kill me as well?"_

_The comment stunned Ino but she stammered out a quick reply._

"_No, I got here by accident. I'm Ino"_

_Gaara got a confused look on his face. "Do you know why I'm here? I've never been here this long before. I try not to come here because every time I do, the monster comes after me."_

_Ino was not as dumb as her fangirl image portrayed. She needed a sharp mind to do her family jutsu and the training from her father had taught her to think both logically and intuitively. 'The mindscape is a person's subconscious. If he avoids this place, that means he doesn't sleep. That explains why Gaara seemed so irrational during our fight.' She knew both of them would wear out eventually; then the beast would catch Gaara._

"_What is that thing chasing you?" Ino asked._

"_Its Mother," Gaara panted._

_Ino knew a number of mental illnesses but none were anything remotely like this. "Um, does it have a different name?"_

"_Some people would call it Shukaku when I am walking around in Suna," the red head replied._

'_A mental illness with a name, that's different,' the blonde thought._

_Ino noticed the boy was exhausted and she was not doing too well herself. "Gaara, can you make a safe place for us to rest?"_

"_Safe place?" the boy replied confused._

_Ino nodded. "Yes, a safe place. This entire cave should respond to your thought and wishes. If you want a safe place, you need to think about having one, and one will happen."_

"_There is no safe place. Only Mother chasing me. That's why I never come here!"_

_Ino thought quickly. "Can I help you do it? I would be able to do it but I need to touch you in order for it to work."_

"_Touch ... me? But no one ever wants to get close or touch me. They always run away screaming or Mother hurts them with her sand," Gaara said in a quiet voice as he shied away from the blonde girl _

_Ino remembered her few times babysitting for one of her aunts and getting the little cousin to get to bed when it didn't want to. Since this mental self image was of someone about six, she needed to deal with what worked with someone of age six._

"_Well, Mother is chasing after you so she can only hurt me if she comes over here. You said she would hurt us if she did, right?"_

"_Uh huh," Gaara replied._

"_So if you take my hand, I can make us a safe place so she can't hurt us," Ino said as she got down on one knee in front of him and held out her hand._

_The child Gaara bit his lip and looked up with scared eyes. "You won't hurt me, will you?" he asked._

_The blonde smiled softly, "No, I promise I won't hurt you. You can even throw me to Mother if I do."_

"_Okay," Gaara said as he softly took Ino's hand._

_Ino laced the fingers of her hand into the ones of Gaara's smaller hand. She closed her eyes and lifted her right hand up in front of her face in a one handed Ram seal. The cavern walls on either side of the pair closed in to prevent the beast from reaching them. Ino could hear a scraping sound as the bars on the collar caught the sides of the tunnel_

* * *

The brain monitors on both Gaara and Ino moved in synch for a second then resumed their normal patterns.

* * *

"_Wow, you did it. Mother can't get us now," Gaara said as a hint of a smile appeared on his youthful face. Before he could do anything else, he was racked with a head-splitting yawn._

"_Why don't you take a nap, Gaara?" Ino asked._

_Gaara pulled back in fear. "But Mother … she'll get me and eat my soul," he whimpered._

_Ino smiled gently. "No, I'll protect you. She won't get anywhere close enough to hurt you. I promise."_

_Gaara wasn't sure but she HAD already kept one promise. She had touched him and not hurt him. Maybe not everyone was trying to hurt him._

"_Okay," he whispered as he lay down on the soft sand and was immediately asleep._

_Ino leaned back on the cave wall to wait and let out a long sigh_

'Ino. Ino can you hear me?'_ came a weak voice from somewhere in the back of her mind._

_Ino say back up and took a meditation pose. She cast her thoughts out and mentally yelled back in her head._

'Daddy, is that you?'

'INO! Thanks Kami you're all right. Are you safe?' _her father's voice said._

'For the moment. Daddy, there is some huge beast in here that Gaara calls Mother or Shukaku. Its nothing like any mental illness you taught me about.'

'That's because it's not an illness, Ino. There is a demon sealed inside of Gaara. He can barely control it.'

_Ino grumbled, _'More like he can't. Daddy, that thing is roaming free in here.'_ She gave her father a quick rundown of events so far. _'I helped Gaara make a safe place for now but it won't last forever. We are going to need help.'

'Ino, I don't think we can do much to help. You're going to have to help him control it.'

"Daddy, he is like a six year old in here. He is scared stiff of both that critter AND me. He is sleeping right now so I'll try to do what I can when he wakes up.'

_Ino heard a grunt of pain from her father. _'The demon is fighting my probe again. Your Shintenshin left you in control of Gaara's body so we are safe from the demon getting out but only if it doesn't catch you. Stay away from it.'

'Okay Daddy,'_ she said as the connection was cut off._

* * *

Baki looked at the comatose Gaara but finally he had his fear under control. This was the longest Gaara had ever been unconscious or sleeping in his life. For nearly a week, the Yamanaka clan had been trying to get into Gaara's mind to free both teens but the power of the bijou kept them at bay. The mental processes kept shifting radically on both teens. That left the mind jumpers hopeful that both minds were intact within Gaara's head.

The Sand jonin growled. The brat's father, Inoichi had said that since the girl Ino had control of Gaara's body, the Ichibi could not take over unless it 'caught' her inside Gaara's head. Now, the Hokage and the girl's father were on hand as the man tried to get in touch with her through a mind link to her body.

Inoichi fell back from where he had his hands on his daughter's head. He took a moment to get in control of himself before speaking.

"I contacted her. They are safe for now. I told her that she needs to help the boy to learn to control the demon so they can get out of his mindscape." The blonde man turned to glare at Baki. "She said he is showing a mental development of around age six. What the hell have you people been doing to that boy? The demon is running around in his mind practically unsealed."

"You would have to take it up with Elder Chiyo, if she would deign to meet with any Leaf ninja," Baki said arrogantly giving no other information.

"In any case, how do we get Ino and Gaara separated?" Sarutobi asked Inoichi directly.

"The hardest part will be getting them up into Gaara's conscious mind instead of his subconscious mindscape. Then it would be a simple matter for Ino to release the jutsu. Unfortunately, the demon is the one holding the 'door' between the conscious and subconscious closed right now. To get them out, they need to mentally subdue a tailed beast."

**

* * *

**

Neji

The cut on his temple did not really need a doctor to check over but Hiashi had insisted. The injury could leave other problems with the blood vessels that would only be seen with the Byakugan was active. Fortunately there was no damage below the surface, at least no physical damage.

Neji had done little while he was waiting for a clan medic to clear him to use his blood limit once more. He had tried meditation but found he could not find peace. His thoughts kept returning to the arena.

_Kenji rolled onto his back and gasped out, "I count coup"_

The prodigy had not known what that word even was until he had looked it up. It was a term borrowed from another language far to the west. It was having to opportunity to do serious harm to your opponent in a battle but choosing not to and settling for a symbolic hit instead. Neji's hand went to his temple.

_Kenji closed in and swung his kunai but altered his strike so the blade lay against the side of his forearm just before Neji struck his chest._

The moment replayed in his head once more. Neji tried to block it out but he found he couldn't. His own belief in fate would not let go of this incident. He told himself it was fate that the boy turned his strike away to protect himself from repercussions. But the excuse sounded hollow the more he told it to himself.

Fate against choice; Neji was torn on what to believe for the first time in years.

It took him a week after the preliminaries, but he managed to hunt down Kenji to talk with him.

"Good afternoon, Hyuuga-san, what can I do for you?" Shinji asked politely.

"I wished to discuss our match in the Chunin Exams," Neji said in a formal tone.

"Not really much to discuss," Kenji said scratching his face. "You won."

"You could have forced a draw in that match by cutting out my eye, but you did not. It was within your reach on your last strike."

"Yes, it was," Kenji agreed. "But I didn't need to. We _are_ on the same side. So I took a different means to show that I could have but didn't need to. My superiors saw my strike and they saw that I was able to make it. I was told after the Finals are held I will be promoted to chunin. So is my teammate Suki."

Neji looked shocked for a moment.

"How are you getting promotion without advancing to the Finals?" he asked.

"Things work different down here in the trenches, Hyuuga-san," Kenji said. "We get promoted based on performance of our duties and our abilities. Most of my work consists of going on border patrols in the field or investigating things for clients. Spying, item recovery, lots of boring times waiting. I've even killed a few people along the way too. It's not pretty but then again, we're not paid to look 'pretty' like the Elites are, Hyuuga-san."

Neji bristled at the politely worded but insolently toned statement by this Kenji person.

"You were fated to lose to me. You do realize this?" Neji said to cover his anger.

Kenji shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. It doesn't matter in the end. I went into the fight overmatched by your training and bloodline. My view on the fight is this. I had you hopping around in that fight. I made you take me seriously. And we both know the fight was really a draw. If I had been fighting you like an enemy, you would be minus an eye right now."

Neji glared at Kenji. "You would be dead if that had been a fight of enemies."

"So would you, Hyuuga-san. So would you," Kenji said with a smirk.

Kenji turned to leave. "Oh, I hope your, um, cousin I guess she was, gets better. I saw the damage she did in the forest. She was quite skilled."

Neji glared. "She was weak."

Kenji chuckled. "You clan folks really need a reality check if you think that girl was weak. She was tiny and cute, but based on what I saw; she makes _you_ look like the weak one. Good day, Hyuuga-san."

Kenji inclined his head and went back to his duties and left the fuming Neji to his thoughts.

**

* * *

**

Hinata

Slowly, darkness gave way to light. Hinata cracked open crusty eyelids for the first time in two weeks to find the light hurt. Slowly, an arm lifted up to her face to rub the crust from the corners of her eyes and block out some of the light. The motion was much harder than she thought possible. She was sore all over.

'Where am I? Is this heaven?' she thought. "Maybe I'll get to see mother again. That would be so wonderful.'

Eyes opened once more to look around. The white room and curtains around the bed she was in came into focus. She noticed the tubes going into her arms and realized she was in a hospital. A soft sigh came from her at that realization.

'Shino-kun and Kiba-kun must have rescued me,' she thought miserably. She tried to piece the memory of how she got hurt into place. 'But Shino-kun was down and Kiba-kun had his arms broken. Those ninja were taunting me and then I was here. They must have beaten me badly then been stopped by someone else. They must be dead from my weakness.' Tears ran hot down from her pale eyes to the pillow.

The girl lay there for a few more minutes before deciding to face the inevitable and hit the nurse call button. Less than a minute later, a nurse hurried in holding a chart. The medical professional looked at it before speaking.

"It is good to see you awake, Hinata-san. We were afraid you would continue to be in a coma for several more days."

Hinata was startled by being called 'Hinata-san'. That would mean her clan, her family, had turned their collective back on her at last. Fighting back tears, she spoke in a soft voice.

"Have I missed the services for my teammates?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Services? Why would your teammates need services? They are recovering just fine," the confused nurse replied.

Hinata's eyes opened in shock to look directly at the nurse. "They aren't dead? But I saw them struck down. I was badly injured somehow. Those men were going to kill them and take me."

The nurse nodded slowly. "You must be suffering from some mental trauma and short term memory loss due to you injuries. I will get the doctor for you and he can explain things for you."

Hinata's heart leaped as the nurse hurried out. 'Shino-kun and Kiba-kun are alive!'

Minutes later, a doctor came in to see her with the nurse in tow. He made a quick once over examination before giving some whispered orders to the nurse who wrote them on the chart. Finally he turned to talk to the teen.

"Hinata-san I am glad you are finally awake. You have been out for two weeks in a light coma but nurse tells me you are having some memory problems with the cause of your injuries. Could you tell me what you do remember?" he asked at the end.

Hinata quickly related the attack on Shino, followed by Kiba making a counter attack as she aided the downed Shino and prevented his drowning in the quicksand jutsu. After Kiba fell, she became more hesitant before finally telling of the taunts of the foreign ninja and their plans for her. Then nothing until she awoke in the hospital. The nurse took notes as the doctor nodded at appropriate times.

Hinata continued after finishing her recollections, "Doctor, could I borrow a mirror? If you are calling me 'Hinata-san' instead of 'Hyuuga-san', that would mean I was disowned. I need to check something."

"Hinata-san, your clan has not placed their seal on your forehead. In fact, if they did it would start a civil war within Konoha. Right now, your legal status is in limbo as both the Aburame and Inuzuka have both made formal proposals to adopt you to the Hokage."

Hinata looked wide eyed at the doctor as he informed her of the situation.

The pale eyed girl sat quietly for a few moments before she began to laugh. The doctor looked shocked but the shock fled quickly as the girl held up hands glowing with chakra and casually sliced all the leads and tubes attached to her body. The laugh had faded to a disturbing smile as she climbed out of the bed.

"Hinata-san, you should remain in bed. You'll pull out your stitches," the doctor said.

Hinata looked at him, her smile still in place as he approached. Then she casually swatted the man away. The chakra surrounding her hand left him sliced and bleeding badly. The nurse screamed and fled. Smiling Hinata staggered out into the hallway into an orderly who tried to stop her. That man was swatted away as well in a spray of blood. Moments later, an ANBU on guard at the room of Ino got behind Hinata and knocked her out with a chop to a pressure point on her neck.

Order was restored but the hospital remained in an uproar. A Yamanaka tried to take a mindwalk on the again awake and smiling Hinata but was cast out with enough force to knock the man out for an hour.

Sarutobi was frowning at the report on his desk. Hyuuga Hiashi, Inuzuka Tsume and Aburame Shibi were all standing in front of him. He addressed himself mainly to Hiashi.

"It appears years of mental abuse by your clan on Hinata have had an effect. She has suffered from some kind of psychotic episode. I am forced to postpone any decision regarding her custody and your inter-clan dispute until such time as her mental stability is restored. Until that day comes, she will be regarded as a ward of the Hokage and kept in a suitable location to help her recover."

**

* * *

**

Ino

_Ino looked on as Gaara finally woke from his mental slumber in the mindscape. She was surprised to see that his mental form had changed to look slightly older._

'_That is weird beyond belief, but then again this whole thing is as well,' she mused._

_Gaara looked around slightly confused. His normal anger at everything had faded somewhat "I slept and I'm still here. The monster didn't get me," he said in a quiet voice._

_Ino chuckled._

_Gaara shied away from her for a moment in reflex as some sand rose up between them. "You're still here," he said. "Are you real?"_

_Ino nodded. "As real as you are. I got stuck in here after the battle in the Chunin Exams, remember?"_

_Gaara lowered his still sleep deprived head and tried to think. He found it much easier than normal to form clear thoughts. "I am not certain. Things are very confused in my memories. I was trying to crush you? Mother was demanding your blood."_

"_Close enough," Ino replied. "But you really need to call that big critter on the other side of this wall something besides 'Mother'," she said pointing behind her._

"_But then again, it really is a loud pain in the butt though just like a real mom," Ino said in a weak joke as she giggled._

_Gaara just looked at Ino with a blank face until Ino stopped giggling._

"_Um, it was a joke," she said lamely._

"_What's a joke?" Gaara said blandly._

"_All righty," Ino muttered. "If we are going to get out of here, we need for you to be able to subdue that critter and get control of your mindscape back."_

"_If I am going to justify my existence, I do need to get out of here. So, how do I subdue it?" Gaara asked._

_Ino thought for a minute. "Since it's your mind, you should have control of the place. But since that thing is trapped in part of your mind it gained more control than you. You just need to learn enough to take that control back," she finished smiling._

_Gaara nodded. "Show me how to do this so you can leave and I may kill you," he commanded._

"_Gee, you really know how to charm a girl," Ino retorted. "You could try being a little nicer. What is with all this killing me talk?"_

"_I justify my existence by being the strongest. By defeating everyone I face that tries to end my existence."_

"_Well, I'm not trying to do that. I just want to get out of here and get back into my own body!"_

_Gaara paused. "But we fought? So that means you were trying to end my existence like all the people who tried to kill me."_

"_That was only a test to show out skills. I wasn't trying to kill you. I couldn't have even if I had wanted to. Besides, if you kill everyone that tries ot get close to you, you'll end up all alone," she finished winking._

_Now Gaara was getting confused again. This girl was not acting like other girls he had known. All of them except for Temari would scream and run away when he said he would kill them._

"_Now, this is the first mental exercise. We need you to learn meditation techniques," Ino said as she sat on the sand floor of the cave._

* * *

"The Kazekage wants his son returned to Suna immediately!" Baki roared. It had been over two weeks since the incident at the preliminaries. That had allowed a messenger ot run to Suna and back. The idea of Suna losing its greatest weapon was not something the leadership wanted. The Kazekage had said publicly that Gaara remained in the Leaf village to keep his brother company. The bold faced lie worked well since the citizens were scared of Gaara and any excuse for the boy to be away from Suna was seen as a good thing.

Sarutobi growled in annoyance. The only reason the boy was still here is that he was locked in a mental loop with the Yamanaka girl. Even so, he had no legal reason to keep the boy in Konoha so slowly he nodded even though it would condemn a young kunoichi to death.

The litter bearers for Gaara were nervous but did their duty. They only wanted to be far away from the boy but their leader ordered it so it must be done. Falling into step, they made their way out of the hospital.

Inoichi stood next to his daughter's comatose form holding one hand. He knew what was coming. His wife held the girl's other hand. They could do nothing to prevent what was about to happen. Ino's vital signs began to drop.

_

* * *

_

_Ino was in the middle of another teaching session with a Gaara that looked about 9 years old. Without warning, an intense pain gripped her and she fell to the sand gasping for breath._

"_No," she whimpered. "They can't. My parents would never let them do this."_

"_Ino, what's wrong?" Gaara said with a hint of concern._

"_Moving one of us out of my range," the blonde gasped out as she kept getting weaker._

_The roars of Shukaku grew louder as the passageway began to enlarge without Ino's mental support._

"_What do you mean by range?" Gaara said with a hint of fear._

"_My jutsu has a limit of how far my body and mind c-can be apart. Too far and my body will die then my mind diessss," she whispered as she passed out and slowly began to fade._

"_No," Gaara said in disbelief. "You're my friend now. You stayed with me and you're not scared of me. I want you to stay!" The red head grabbed the fading form of the girl and pushed chakra into the translucent form._

* * *

On the litter, Gaara lay still until the group was about one hundred yards from the hospital. Suddenly, the boy began gasping for breath and thrashing about. The litter bearers made to stop but a sharp command from Baki got them moving once more. Gaara's body then surged up and convulsed before falling off the simple litter.

"What is happening to him?" Baki yelled at the medic.

The medic took a quick check of Gaara's vital signs. "His heartbeat is slowing. He is having trouble breathing. He is dying and I don't know why, Baki-sama," the medic reported.

Baki growled in frustration. "Take us back to the hospital emergency room immediately. They have better medics than you," he yelled at the litter bearers. The party turned and hurried back into the building.

With each step, Gaara's breathing eased and heartbeat increased. Standing in the doorway of the emergency room door, the group found Gaara to be still unconscious but otherwise normal once more.

In Ino's room, her vital signs slowly crept upward back to the levels they had been at for the past two weeks. Inoichi and his wife were both shocked but still held onto their daughter's hands.

A medic appeared at the doorway of the room.

"Inoichi-san, your presence is needed in the Emergency Room immediately," the medic said.

The blonde man nodded and left quickly. The party of Sand ninja waiting for him looked angry. Inoichi was told what had happened before Baki stepped up to him.

"Why did Gaara react like that to his being moved? Your Hokage said that nothing would happen to him," Baki said in a voice that barely rose above a whisper to prevent being overheard.

Inoichi replied in the same tone. "I don't know why something like that has happened. Every other time a person under that jutsu moved out of range, the Yamanaka died and the person was released. I can only guess but something with Gaara's 'condition' is the likely cause."

Baki was frustrated but he knew he could only get Gaara out of Konoha by taking the Yamanaka girl with them and that was not likely to happen.

_

* * *

_

Gaara smiled slightly as Ino's body solidified once more and she breathed easier. She opened her blue eyes and looked into his green ones.

"_How? I thought I was going to die?" she said confused._

"_I didn't want you to leave me," he said softly. "I think I now understand what Uncle Yashamaru told me years ago."_

_Ino smiled a little. The experience had worn her out so she closed her eyes for a nap with Gaara watching over her._

_Time passed in a strange fashion in Gaara's mindscape. Months seemed to have passed but Ino knew that it could only have been days or weeks. She felt her strength weaken over time and knew that was due to her own body getting weaker. At least it provided her with some sense of how much time had truly passed._

_The pair had long talks with each other as they grew to be friends. Stories and secrets were passed between them. Gaara learned what it meant to care for a person. His mindscape self image had grown to be at his true age now. His face normally remained stoic but he smiled and laughed with Ino when she said something funny. His own mistakes had caused her some laughter but he quickly learned it was simply because it was from a humorous result, not cruelty on her part. Gaara learned how to be human and no longer considered himself the monster. He only kept the monster a prisoner._

_Gaara's control over his own mindscape had improved to the point where they could try to bind the Shukaku. The pair discussed the best way to do so. The seal binding the monster within Gaara was the best method they came up with. The long poles extending off the seal 'collar' around Shukaku's neck seemed to have been meant to be attached to something but the poorly made seal had partially failed. Over time, they had discovered the points where those attachments should have been. Gaara would need to create mental 'chains' to bind the beast to those points within his mind. Ino would need to help him do that. Once bound, the things Ino taught him would allow him to keep it captive and controlled; even if he slept._

"_You ready?" Ino asked Gaara._

_The boy only nodded and focused on his mindscape. The seal points stood ready. Gaara focused and long heavy chains slowly formed outward from the rings on the floor. Ino rested her hand on his shoulder to buoy his will and form the needed changes._

* * *

The hospital in Konoha was quiet as dusk settled over the village. Visitors were being sent away so the night shift could come on duty. The room holding the still forms of Gaara and Ino constantly had an ANBU guard inside and outside of the room. Even without knowing much about medicine the agent knew that the condition of the pair was unnatural. The nurse had explained about the brain wave patterns should not be that low. The agent had seen it often enough over the past few shifts to notice that the patterns had shifted slight as the days passed. Tonight, he was looking at one and was puzzled by something else new.

The patterns had increased and began moving synchronized.

* * *

Next Chapter: Combat

Author Notes: Yup, Hinata went psycho and got committed.

EdStargazer 03/09/10


	4. Combat

**Combat**

The Chunin Exam finals should have begun as an exciting time but for the ninja of Konohakagure no Sato it was far from the right kind of exciting. All Konoha ninja except for those involved in the tournament final had been on alert for days now. Shikamaru knew what was going on simply because he was smart enough to figure things out.

The other seven ninja on the floor of the Konoha Arena were a different story. They had been focused on their own training or on the plans of their home villages. The three ninja of Team Guy were all focused on their matches with each of them showing their unique personalities. Tenten idly juggled and spun some kunai. Lee was shadow boxing. Neji had his normal Hyuuga stoic gaze but his eyes could not completely hide his troubled mind. Kankuro of the Sand village fiddled with his puppet. Zaku and Dosu of the Sound village were looking around nervously.

People in the audience thought it was due to being in a strange village but the ninja knew better. The Hokage had informed all those of chunin rank and higher of the impending attacks. The alert brought in by the sergeant on the Legions was being taken very seriously. The feeling of the Kyuubi chakra in the early hours of the morning solidified that warning for the Hokage. Weeks of suspicion were now going to be unfortunately revealed. War was coming to the Leaf village.

In the arena, in the village and in the mind of a jinchuuriki.

_

* * *

_

Gaara formed the heavy chains in his mindscape with the aid of the trapped Ino. The seal holding Shukaku had partially failed at this point but thanks to Ino's training in his head, he had a chance to take control of his life for the first time. This was his mind. He controlled it not the demon. Now he would prove it.

_Ino looked on nervously as all of her training with Gaara was beginning to pay off. She knew she would not last much longer inside of his mind, in spite of the boy maintaining her with his chakra. After nearly a month, her body was rapidly losing its ability to generate enough chakra to keep her mind intact. The physical component of her chakra was always a limiting factor and her body being in a coma meant that it was losing strength; hence less physical energy to create chakra. She never voiced these concerns to Gaara but Ino could sense that in some fashion he knew on some level._

_The moment Gaara relaxed his control on the tunnels surrounding the seal point; they expanded to allow the sand bijuu access to that part of his mind. The creature was insane but dangerous. It slowly stalked toward Gaara and Ino, thinking it had won._

* * *

The first match of the Finals pitted Tenten against Zaku of the Sound Village. The bun wearing girl had been looking forward to the match since it had been postponed a month earlier. The boy had no apparent weapons so she knew that meant either ninjutsu or taijutsu. She had spent the entire month training more than usual.

'Guy-sensei was right that I had a few weaknesses to work on. I had been too specialized and if I had faced someone who could block my weapons, I had nothing else to fall back on,' she thought as the proctor moved into the arena. Her butt still got phantom pains when she thought about the training Guy-sensei had chosen. The man had literally 'kicked her butt' each time. 'Nothing more or less for two whole weeks. Every dang time that was the only place I got hit by Guy-sensei until I was good enough to stop him,' she growled.

It had been embarrassing but it had worked. If it had been someone besides Might Guy, she would have considered it harassment. 'At least he only used his foot,' she thought as she checked her gear one last time.

"I plan on beating you into the ground, girl," Zaku said with a sneer. "You look like you would be good for something besides being my target. Those buns would make great handles," he finished with a leer.

Tenten almost lost her cool as the enraged sound of "Unyouthful" sounded from the audience.

"First Match: Tenten of Leaf versus Zaku of Sound, Begin!" called out Hayate before the jonin jumped back.

Tenten immediately threw a kunai at the gray camouflaged Sound ninja. The boy moved to one side only to find a second one in the wake of the first. It made him pull up from what he intended to do to prevent a hit to his stomach. Before he could react any further, a third thrown kunai cut across his arm but was deflected enough by the cloth armor wraps many ninja liked to wear like bandages. The bun haired girl followed with a fourth kunai into the ground at his feet and an explosion followed just after it hit. Zaku was thrown back by the blast but he flipped in mid air and landed with a skid several yards back.

"Kuso," he cursed as he extended his arms at the bothersome girl. He was one of Orochimaru's elite genin and he was looking foolish. This girl was going to pay. He hoped that later she lived through the defeat he was going to hand her. He would not mind paying her back in other ways once the Sound defeated these tree-huggers.

"Decapitating Airwaves," he yelled as he fired a chakra enhanced air blast out of his surgically altered arms. The blast had a similar effect of a gale wind palm jutsu but more concentrated. Tenten dove and rolled to one side as the narrow beam of wind and chakra passed her. She jumped as the boy fired a second blast which she easily dodged. The spars with Neji and Lee were more demanding than this so far.

Tenten threw more kunai to unsettle Zaku from his ready position as she soared through the air. She did not want to face a blast she could not dodge. The Sound boy fired his air wave once more but an exploding kunai dispersed the shot. Tenten landed and spun to face the Sound boy with a grin. She had already seen a major weakness in the boy's attack.

'He should be using just one hand to fire those air blasts but he is using both,' she thought. 'We are both long range but my weapons will not stand up to wind if he made a more wide angle attack. He should be following up with weapons but it's like he is posing for some reason.' Her grin widened as a plan formed.

Zaku moved away from the cloud of dust the explosion had raised and looked around for Tenten. He pointed his palms out like weapons but he could not spot the damned female. A shout of "Hey, dumb ass," had him spin to see the girl about twenty yards away twirling a kunai on each forefinger. Her grin angered him but she had played right into his hands.

"Extreme Decapitating Airwaves," he yelled as he fired a more powerful version of his technique.

Tenten was already moving to the side before the jutsu had been completed. 'Just hold that pose idiot,' she thought as she threw her kunai. Air blast passed kunai in mid-air.

Zaku screamed in pain as kunai had appeared in his palms like magic. The metal blades had penetrated deep into the air holes in his palms after the air had passed through. Somehow the girl had hit the small targets from that distance while dodging. He tried to move his hands to pull the knives from his hands but found another problem. The kunai themselves kept him from moving his hands to a normal position. They were stuck in the palm pulled back position which he used for his jutsu. The fingers alone did not have the grip to free the blades from the air passages.

In the moments it took Zaku to realize that, Tenten had closed the distance between them and kicked the Sound ninja in the stomach. She watched him bend over with a gasp as the kick stopped his breathing for a moment. A double hammer fist across the back of his neck sent Zaku down to his knees. She finished with a kick on his butt to send him down on his face in the dirt.

Zaku screamed in pain as a knee landed hard on his lower spine but before he could do more a hand grabbed his tall hair and yanked his head back. A kunai slid up to his throat and pressed as a voice whispered in his ear. "I saw the way you were looking at me. I should just cut it off of you but that would make me have to look for it. I don't have the time to get a magnifying glass and find it. You lost."

Tenten looked up from her quiet talk with Zaku to see Hayate come closer. "Winner: Tenten. Release you opponent, he is defeated." Tenten let go of the Sound teen's hair and stood to leave. The boy jumped to his feet and made to attack her from behind at point blank range. Before he could even utter a word; his crotch exploded in more pain. Tenten had hit him with a one footed donkey kick.

"Oops," she said with a smile. "I guess I did find it." A majority of the men in the audience cringed but knew the boy deserved it from his earlier comment.

The medics took their time collecting Zaku from the arena floor. It was not surprising since one was a woman.

_

* * *

_

Gaara was nervous as the beast approached. He had lived in fear of it from his entire life. Before Ino had forced her way into his head, he had considered the creature as 'Mother'. But now he knew better. It all revolved around Ino. She had allowed him to sleep for the first time without it whispering in his ear and preventing his rest. His mind was clear now and he knew he had grown. He was not close to what he could become yet but for the first time in his life, he was in control of his own destiny.

_The tunnel had reached cavern size now. It would not be long before the battle was joined._

* * *

"Match Two: Dosu of Sound against Rock Lee, Begin!"

Lee stood waiting for this match. Like Tenten, he had been forced to wait an additional month to fight anyone. He wore his usual green spandex unitard and orange legwarmers with a bowl cut hairstyle. He tried so hard to emulate his sensei, Might Guy that many considered him a clone or son of the man. He would show his youth to his teacher and all of Konoha.

"My youth will shine!" Lee shouted and rushed at Dosu.

The Sound ninja shook his head. This was the same thing the last Leaf moron had done as Dosu swung his arm at Lee almost casually. Before Lee could close the distance it felt like he had run into a wall. His head seemed to explode in pain but nothing had touched him. Lee fell and rolled to a stop at Dosu's feet

"Your teammate hurt mine," Dosu said in a low voice. "Now, in return, I am going to have to hurt you. I don't give a crap about him, mind you. It is all principle you see."

"My Melody Arm manipulates sound waves," Dosu said as he casually swung his arm back. The humming from it made Lee scream in pain as the unheard ultrasonic sound waves shattered his eardrums. Dosu brought his fist up and came down to one knee. He brought his fist down to hit Lee in the stomach.

Lee spit up blood as the unheard sound waves felt like they had shattered his insides. Unconsciousness came quickly after that.

Dosu stood and looked at Hayate before walking away from the downed and unmoving Lee.

"Killing him now would be a mercy. I don't do mercy," Dosu told Hayate as the proctor called in the medics

The crowd was stunned silent at the brutality of a match taking less than thirty seconds.

* * *

The shadow clone of Sarutobi had flinched at the treatment of Lee by the Sound ninja but did nothing. He looked over at the Kazekage.

"Your son is up next. How do you think it will go?" the clone asked.

The veiled Kazekage merely shrugged. "The boy should be fine."

The Sarutobi clone just nodded in the silence. The Sand leader was acting much too far out of character. The suspicions of his original were slowly being confirmed. He would need to make an extra clone and dispel it to let his original know what was happening here. After the first round was completed he decided.

* * *

"Match Three: Akimichi Choji versus Sabaku no Kankuro, Begin!"

Kankuro was not happy about having to fight. With him as the only representative of Suna, he needed to at least be in his match. His puppet, Crow, was prepared to fight in a true battle not an exam. He would not be able to use most of its higher level abilities. But on the other hand, he was facing the boy who had beaten his sister. A little payback for her humiliation might be worth his time.

Choji was proud of his being in the battle. After Naruto had broken him out of his funk a couple of weeks before; he had taken to training with a vengeance. His father had commented that it was about time the boy had gotten out of hovering over Ino's doctors in the hospital and driven the boy hard in practice. But, Choji rose to the challenge his father had set for him. The boy had earned his father's respect in many ways since that day. His new taijutsu style with enlarged hands and arms was still rough. However, the elder Akimichi could see potential that most of his clan had overlooked. The leader of the clan had seen that their multi-size jutsu could be used in new ways.

Choji had remembered the battle in the preliminaries but Kankuro did not try to hide his presence with the puppet. The multi-armed weapon was flung at the large teen almost in desperation. Choji dodged but kept moving because the puppet followed him. He could see the fingers of Kankuro twitching and the puppet responding.

Choji hurled kunai toward Kankuro as he kept moving. The puppet seemed to sprout blades as it kept closing in. 'This is bad. I can't get around this thing and my jutsu are mainly clan ones. I am at a bad disadvantage here,' he thought.

Choji saw no other choice but to use what he had available. He pulled out two chains of kunai as he dodged the puppet once more. 'Normally I would make my meat tank and have these around me but I can do something else with them right now.' He pushed chakra into one chain forcing in a circle as if he had formed his tank within it. Holding on to one kunai along the chain he swung it around himself like a ring around a planet. His chakra forced it to move faster until the kunai were pointed out and began to blur with speed.

Kankuro was forced to pull back his puppet in the face of the spinning kunai ring. He recognized that the defense was an improvisation and held many weaknesses. The desert ninja flexed his fingers and several arms of the puppet broke away from the main body. They flew at Choji from multiple angles that would get past the spinning ring.

Choji reacted faster than most people thought he would. He kept with his initial plan and jumped high in the air and surprised everyone by hurling the spinning chain of kunai at Kankuro himself. The Suna ninja almost fell over himself trying to dodge and the main body of Crow interposed itself to protect the boy. The ring wrapped around the puppet with many kunai embedding into the torso. The ninja watching nodded at seeing the damage the attack had done and what it could have done to a person it hit.

But Choji failed to stop all of the independent arms that Kankuro was controlling with his chakra. Choji could not dodge while in mid-air and took a pair of hits from the poisoned blades on the arms. He cursed but the numbing from the poison was spreading quickly.

"Proctor, I surrender," Choji said loud enough to be heard by both Kankuro and Hayate.

"Winner: Sabaku no Kankuro," called out Hayate. "Medics!"

Choji took a couple more steps before going to one knee in pain. Kankuro paid him no mind as he worked on freeing his prized puppet from the chain and kunai. He grumbled at all the damage and glared at the medics as they worked on Choji.

"It looks like poison A-113 in the catalog," one said after a brief Mystic Palm jutsu scan. "Lethal if the person keeps moving but treatable. Use Counter Toxin J," she ordered her men.

Kankuro was surprised at the rapid response by the medics. He had used one of Elder Chiyo's more obscure toxins from back in the last war. He figured that no one would have an antidote for it besides him. He had planned on using it to force numerous surrenders as sitting quietly was the best way to treat a victim. That was something a ninja rarely did in battle. His personal use dosage of anti toxin was carefully hidden and he made no motion to pull it out to aid the medics.

The medical team escorted Choji out to a smattering of applause.

_

* * *

_

The echoes of the beast's roars filled the cavern as it closed on the redhead and blonde. Gaara fought back his fear of the beast as he needed to lure it to the right spot. Ino placed her hand on his shoulder to let her will support Gaara's in manipulating the chakra chains. The huge demon closed in until it crossed the proper point. At the mental command of Gaara, the first chain sprung up from the sand floor and attached to the pole extending out of Shukaku's collar. The demon was tugged sideways in its charge until the next pole was in range of a second chain. That chain flew out and attached as well.

_The teens grinned at their success o this point when the demon began to thrash about shouting. "I will not be bound by a mere mortal," it yelled. The immense volume and pressure of the voice in the cavern made both teens cringe and waver in their combined will. One of the chains snapped._

_Shukaku lunged at Gaara once more while swiping a massive paw of sand at the redhead. He could not move quickly enough to dodge. But he found himself pushed to the side before it could hit him. The thud of Ino flying into the rock wall of the cavern seemed to echo in his ears._

* * *

Match Four: Nara Shikamaru versus Hyuuga Neji.

Shikamaru muttered about how troublesome this match was going to be. He had gone over in his mind thousands of scenarios for this battle but found very few that would allow him victory. In a straight up fight with Neji, he would get destroyed. But he could not simply back out. His mother would be nagging nonstop if he did that. So he was here facing Neji.

"You are fated to lose this battle, Nara," Neji began. "You face a superior ninja and a superior bloodline today."

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow at that comment. New ideas floated into his head and he picked out one that seemed oddly appropriate. "Fate is a joke," he replied to Neji as he noticed a few nice clouds in the sky behind Neji.

Neji had been driven by his inescapable fate since he was a small child. The battle a month before and later conversation with the same military ninja had shaken his faith in the concept. But the fate of Hinata was to be weak and he saw that had indeed come true. His cousin was broken mentally and physically. Now, if he could convince Shikamaru that fate was indeed something important, it would make him right.

"Fate is inescapable, Nara. What a person is and will be is decided when they are born. We cannot change fate. Today, you are fated to lose to me."

Shikamaru said nothing and stood there staring at Neji.

"You are mocking me with your silence, Nara!" Neji yelled. "You must feel that a person can rise up and challenge what they are fated to be! But no one can! I have tried to escape my own but I cannot! I should not be condemned to this life of servitude when I am the greatest Gentle Fist user of my generation!"

Still, Shikamaru stood there staring and remained silent. The crowd was getting edgy with Neji's tirade.

"You still mock me with your silence!" Neji pulled off his headband and showed the Caged Bird seal on his forehead to the boy standing five yards from him. "Look at this mark of my fate! I am trapped under the thumb of a weak girl like Hinata-sama or a child like Hanabi-sama. If one decided to, I would be forced to grovel at their feet!"

The crowd was looking uncomfortable as they watched Neji self destruct. Several Hyuuga looked like they were trying to disappear.

Shikamaru finally made a sound but it was not one Neji had expected. It was a snore. Hayate stepped up to the Nara boy and looked closely at him.

"He fell asleep with his eyes open and standing up," Hayate said in an amazed whisper.

Neji turned purple in embarrassment. He looked around the see the people in the crowd looking at him with pity. He had won but he learned that fate mocked him, if fate could indeed be blamed for what Neji had spewed out on his own.

"Winner: Hyuuga Neji," was all Hayate said as he poked Shikamaru to wake the sleeping boy.

_

* * *

_

Gaara stopped rolling and turned to see Ino crumble to the floor of the cavern.

_Shukaku chuckled in glee before he spoke to Gaara. "That little nuisance had been aiding you, hasn't it? Giving you ideas that you could stand up to me, puny mortal? You belong to me. Accept your destiny and allow me to control things both here and in the world. Once I finish and consume her, I will gain her power over your body. You are nothing but another nuisance to me boy but I cannot kill you. I will devour you as well."_

_Gaara looked up at the monster looming over him. Its presence was overpowering. He could feel it trying to move into his head again. He glanced back to see Ino not moving and slowly starting to fade once more._

"_Ino," he whimpered. "Don't leave me. You're my friend."_

_Shukaku chuckled again "Friend? What use is a friend? There is only power and weakness. I have power and you are weak. She is a nuisance to be removed. The strong rule, the weak serve. That is the way things are. Now, bow before and serve me, boy."_

"_no," Gaara whispered after a pause._

"_No, I won't serve you. I am the one who holds you trapped, not the other way around," Gaara continued._

"_The boy is trying to show a spine," Shukaku laughed loudly. "Submit to me."_

_Gaara looked up once more. "If you could have forced it, you would not be asking me to give in. That means you only have as much power as I allow you to have, monster."_

_He looked back at Ino once more. "And I grant you NONE!"_

_The chains sprung up once more and attached to the four points on the collar. Shukaku roared but the mental energy completed the bridge the seal needed to subdue it within Gaara's mind. The chains shortened and pulled the beast back to the point it should have been held if the seal had worked as planned from the beginning. The energy the beast controlled was being pulled from it by the seal connections and Gaara felt the ability to control the exit from his mind return to him._

_He glared back to Shukaku. "Sand Coffin," he murmured and the walls of the cavern closed in on the beast. It could not crush it, but the walls of his mind pressed close to the sand spirit and held it motionless. The redhead turned to rush to Ino._

_The blonde girl was fading rapidly now. Gaara screamed in agony as he pulled both of them from his mind back into the world, praying he would not be too late._

* * *

"So, what did you think of your son's match, Kazekage-dono?" the clone asked.

"He is acceptable as a fighter," was the reply. "I had been wondering. Why didn't the Uchiha boy make an appearance at this function? Someone as important as him should be seen and make political points for your village."

The clone frowned at that comment. It was something new and different from the Kazekage.

"He is still a boy and a genin," the clone replied casually. "He still needs more rank and a few years before he can begin to make any political points for Konoha. He is around somewhere with his team at the moment. Excuse me for a moment, Kazekage-dono. Some pressing business needs to be relieved."

Both men chuckled at the comment as the clone headed for the private restroom at the back of the booth.

Once in the restroom, the shadow clone summoned an additional one that immediately dispelled itself so everything it had learned so far today would be relayed to Sarutobi. The ANBU guard with him handed the clone a special food pill to maintain its energy and cohesion for several more hours. The Kazekage imposter was waiting for him. The clone had a humorous thought. "We are both frauds here. I wonder what the originals players would think of this situation."

The clone faked a slight limp as he climbed the stairs back to his seat. The Kazekage imposter looked on with interest.

"Ah, the penalties of age, Kazekage-dono," the clone said.

"You really should retire, Hokage-dono. You are not a young man any longer," the Kazekage said in a silky soft voice.

"Oh, there are still a few more fights left in this old frame of mine," Sarutobi chuckled. "I just overdid things with the grandson. I forgot how much energy a young boy has."

"I never played much with my children," the Kazekage commented in a dry voice. "They needed to serve the needs of the village first."

"You missed out on a number of good things then. Children are important as more than mere things to be used for the financial benefit."

Silence fell between the two men as the semi final round of the Finals began.

* * *

Tenten grinned as she faced Kankuro. She had not wanted to face that Sound ninja just yet. It did not matter much to her. Neji could enjoy beating the boy for what he did to Lee. This was her kind of match; weapon against weapon. She did not want to think what could have been if she had gotten a poor draw in the battles. So far, she had gotten opponents who her skill set could deal with easily.

Kankuro didn't want to fight again with Crow this damaged but Baki threatened his life if he tried to forfeit. They still needed more time as the Kazekage had not signaled for the attacks to begin. His jury-rigged repairs would hold but they were ugly and ruined the sleek look he thought the puppet normally had.

"Tenten of Konoha versus Sabaku no Kankuro: Begin!" called out Hayate as he jumped back with a cough.

Tenten immediately began tossing shuriken toward Kankuro. The Sand ninja dodged and sent Crow toward the girl. She retreated but kept the boy just inside of her 95 percent still target hit range. She continued to pepper the boy and his puppet with alternating throws and began to mix in explosives.

Kankuro was getting frustrated at dodging and decided to go for a win. He sent the puppet to close range with Tenten much as he had with the fat kid in the previous match. The girl had to run out of weapons at some point.

Tenten smirked as she sprung her trap. She pulled out her special scrolls and flooded them with chakra and swiped a bit of blood to activate them. She jumped up with a burst of chakra to her legs as the scrolls unfurled beneath her.

"Twin Rising Dragons," she called out with glee as the twin scrolls swirled below her. The weapons stored inside the scrolls were being released now. The first scroll was aimed at the puppet and the second at Kankuro. The Suna ninja realized his mistake now. His puppet was too far away to pull back to cover him by now. 'How can anyone love weapons that much?' he thought as the sky rained steel into his body.

The puppet took damage first. It was impaled first with a spear and followed by practically every type of weapon Tenten could find laying around. Had anyone looked closely at what fell, they would have spotted many old, broken and rusted weapons. She had a habit of cleaning up old training areas like Naruto did for things she could use. In this case quantity over quality was the case, but with the amount of items raining down, quantity has a quality all its own.

Kankuro did his best but he took dozens of hits in a matter of seconds. His arms, legs and back took the brunt of the attack and he went down under the barrage. He was not moving and was bleeding heavily into the dirt floor of the arena.

Tenten was not cruel so she redirected the weapons away from the boy but she kept on with her attack on the puppet. The final item out of the scroll was an afterthought after she had demonstrated the attack for Neji once. The last thing to hit the ground to crush the puppet was an old metal sink from a closed restaurant.

'Not 'but'; 'and',' she chuckled.

The call by Hayate that Tenten had won was not noticed as the medics rushed in to treat the battered Kankuro.

* * *

In the waiting area, Temari shuddered in fear that she would be losing a second brother. She was impressed with the attack but felt she could have avoided it.

Sarutobi clone looked at the passive demeanor of the 'Kazekage' and frowned. That was the last proof anyone would need to know this was not the man he claimed to be.

* * *

After a brief wait, the second semi-final match was ready to go. Neji faced off against Dosu.

Before Hayate could signal for the match to begin, there as a roar that echoed across the village from the eastern wall. A gap appeared in the wall which was filled afterward by a huge three headed serpent.

Neji turned to see the strange purple barrier appear on the roof of the Hokage's box. Dosu chuckled with glee at seeing it.

"Looks like its time for some real fun," Dosu said as he swung his Melody Arm at Neji and Hayate. The jonin responded faster than Neji did and had his sword unsheathed and swung before Dosu could finish. The wind chakra sliced through the sound attack and impacted the genin. The teen looked down to see his prized weapon and the lower half of his arm lying on the ground. Neji pounced on the Sound ninja immediately after and used his Gentle Fist to shut down the chakra points and immobilize him.

Hayate nodded curtly to Neji and pointed up to the waiting in the stands. "Join your squad leader and healthy teammate there, Hyuuga Neji. The Sound is an enemy and to be given no mercy if they do not surrender. Any foreign ninja that does not surrender will also be an enemy. Guy knows what is happening. Go!"

The teen had left when an explosion rocked the inside of the barrier. The team of Sound ninja who were maintaining it all fell to the ground holding their necks in pain. The waiting ANBU pounced on the fallen enemies and cut them down. They then approached the sole body still remaining on the roof while keeping their guard up. When it stirred, the roar of the giant serpent and the explosion as it returned to its point of origin washed over the arena. Hayate was watching when the ANBU members beheaded the person on the roof and then vanish with the body and head.

Around the arena, small skirmishes had broken out but quickly died along with the Sound ninja who had apparently expected something else to be happening.

* * *

Shinji was waiting with his teammates, Kenji and Suki on an alert station near the southern curve of the Konoha wall. The alert orders they had been given had the military arm of the Konoha forces standing by. If they were attacked, they would repulse the attempt. But if they were faced with overwhelming odds, the ninja would retreat from that point until a superior force could be brought against the attacker. The false retreats would lead attackers into preset ambushes and allow Konoha to concentrate its forces. The civilians had been evacuated early that morning to safer areas near the center of town and various specially designed shelters in the mountain and different parts of the village.

The roar of the collapsing wall section and the serpent had the entire village focused on that point. The first reaction of all the ninja was to react to that but the jonin in charge of their section called out an order to stand in position. The man had a wireless communication device to transmit and receive orders from a central command area. The teen could see ninja falling back from the snake and enemies entering the village behind the huge summons.

Shinji growled at being forced to wait as the enemy ninja came into his home but the section leader restated his order to remain in position when another genin squad attempted to head that way. "We wait for orders and keep an eye on our own section until told otherwise," the jonin said n a voice that would accept no complaints.

A cry of pain from the wall nearby got the attention of everyone in the staging area. A squad of foreign ninja appeared on the wall where the cry had come from. The jonin nodded and gave orders to various squads under his central command. Shinji's team was called and they rushed toward the wall.

Suki was the first to draw blood as the enemy squad had been joined by additional forces. Her explosive tagged kunai embedded in the thigh of an enemy before exploding and separating the Sound ninja from his lower leg. Kenji closed in to fight hand to hand with enemies now known to be Sound ninja.

'If we had reacted to the snake, we would have been flanked and hit from behind by this force,' Shinji thought as he kicked a Sound ninja back to see him fall with a shout to the ground far below. The squads on that section of the wall drove off or killed the attacking Sound ninja in less than a minute. Shinji's squad had accounted for three confirmed kills and one probable.

The jonin was impressed and reported in. Then after listening, he gave new orders. Half of his force was to move east and join up with other forces to repulse the main thrust by the Sound forces. Shinji's squad was chosen to join that force.

The teams ran along the inside wall and picked up other groups as they moved. Another part of the relief force moved along the top of the wall to prevent overhead ambushes. They could hear the roars of the giant serpent as it was assaulted by other ninja. Their mission was to deal with other ninja at the breech and within the village.

The roar of the serpent sounded once more. Kenji cheered as he could see the ballista of the heavy defenses forced the summons to flee with a great amount of damage to one head. Minutes later, the team came up on the flank of the Sound ninja who had entered Konoha. Explosive laden kunai fell on the invaders without mercy as the defenders had complete surprise. The few ninja who could run fled with more being felled each second. Few got out of the village alive and unharmed. Fewer within the wall survived.

* * *

Sand began creeping through the cracks and windows of the hospital toward the still forms of Ino and Gaara. The brain wave patterns remained in synch and Ino's were growing toward waking levels.

The redhead boy gasped painfully as he turned his head to see the blonde girl in the bed nearby. Her breathing was shallow but her monitors were showing her still alive. The girl then gasped much as Gaara had moments before as her mind and body became one for the first time in a month. Gaara smiled and noticed the sand pooling on the floor nearby. A gesture and it responded weakly to his thoughts like a living thing. The beds were dragged close together as the blonde opened her eyes.

"Light hurts," she whimpered. Through squinting eyelids she made out the messy red hair of Gaara as her bed moved. "Hey," she said in greeting with a weak smile. "We made it out."

"Yes, thanks to you, Ino," Gaara said in a creaky voice.

The girl smiled and just said, "Tired. Feels weird but I need to sleep. Will you be here when I wake up?"

Gaara smiled in an unfamiliar motion for his real mouth but he found it pleasant. "I'll be here," he said simply.

Ino reached out her hand and took Gaara's before lacing her fingers into his and drifting off to sleep in moments.

* * *

Next Chapter: Journeys

**

* * *

**

End Notes:

My idea with the chakra chains was first written in the third chapter posted back in March. That was before the Kushina revelation and her own chains. This has happened before when something I had put in a story was mirrored somehow shortly after in the anime or manga. It is coincidence.

The statement Tenten was refering to is 'She threw everything at him but the kitchen sink'. She decided as a joke to end her attack with an old kitchen sink. Hence the 'and' comment. Everything AND the kitchen sink.

**Review Notes:**

Hinata's glowing hands had been inspired by the Lion Fist in the manga. I did like how it looked when the anime caught up. Use that as a reference for how she looked in the hospital with an insane grin and her head kind of tilted slightly sideways, sort of like a Harley Quinn grin. She is so powerful simply because she is not in a frame of mind to care whether or not she hurts someone in that state. Surprise is also a major component to her batting people around.

Dosu's Melody Arm had not been observed in action so no one knew about what it could do. The events of canon did not happen in this story. No Sasuke in the Forest so the entire chain of events was different. That question had been asked in a Captured review but it was appropriate to answer here


	5. Journeys

This chapter takes place during chapters 16 and 17 of 'Naruto: Captured'

**Journeys**

Neji frowned as he pounded on the training post. The Hyuuga prodigy was upset over many things recently. His belief in fate had been cracked as of late. He had been made a fool of in front of the entire village by Shikamaru. Then his semi-final match in the Chunin Exams was interrupted by an outside attack. The jonin proctor had casually sliced his sword and the Sound genin's arm had been severed; the same genin that had demolished his teammate in only a few seconds.

Neji had a hard time beating Lee. In spite of his attitude, even he had to admit that Lee was a formidable foe in battle. The spandex clad boy always pushed Neji to greater heights in his training. However, the brief battles during the failed Invasion showed him how much further he had to go.

He could allow for the fact he was not at his full growth physically. He needed a half dozen more years to reach his full physical size. There was nothing he could do to speed that process. Even fate could not change in that regard.

Even so, he now realized he could affect fate but not change it. Perhaps that was the leeway he had always been looking for. His efforts could hasten or retard fate's progress but not the end result.

His musing was interrupted by Tenten arriving. He did not mind allowing the female member of his team to train near him. It allowed him to multitask on his training. He would activate his Byakugan eyes and track her thrown weapons while he did his own physical workout.

"Neji, Hokage-sama called a meeting of all the Elite genin for noon today. Do you think they are going to give out promotions to chunin?" she said somewhat excited.

"I am not certain, Tenten. It has been a week since the Chunin Exams and usually promotions are handed out immediately. However the battle might have delayed them," Neji suggested.

The pair could not comment further before the balance of their team arrived in spectacular fashion.

"Dynamic Entry," a pair in identical spandex unitards shouted as they entered the training area.

Neji glared at Guy and Lee as the duo posed for him and Tenten.

"Come, my cute students! We have been summoned by Hokage-sama to attend a youthful meeting! However, we must not arrive caked in sweat and grime! We shall go get cleaned up first!" Guy shouted in a booming voice.

Lee smiled as well but did not shout as his sensei did. He had recovered from his injuries during the Exams through the magic of medical ninjutsu. This was his first day back at training and it showed. Guy was a maniac when it came to training but he drew the line when his student was pushing simply to please him at the cost of the boy's health.

The pair had barely finished a quarter of their normal morning workout when Guy had stopped to 'inform' Tenten and Neji of the meeting in spite of him sending the girl to tell the Hyuuga. They would benefit from arriving clean and Guy's plot would let Lee rest and recover without needing to admit his 'lack of youthful endurance'.

* * *

Ino sat up in her bed as her parents came in to see her. The blonde girl was quickly regaining her strength after her ordeal. She was following the instructions of the medics in a way she had never listened to anyone before this. The parents were glad for her new maturity but also concerned over the reason for it.

The 'reason' was in a bed directly adjacent to Ino's; Gaara of the Desert, genin of Sunagakure and jinchuuriki of the one tailed beast Skukaku. He looked the couple over for a moment before returning his attention out the window of the room.

"Hi Sweetie," Ino's mother said in a happy voice. She had given up hope that her daughter would even be alive right now and getting her back both alive and in sound mind was something she had only prayed for. Just weeks before she had been holding onto Ino's hand as she waited for her baby girl to die. Now, she looked to the boy who had been responsible for that condition. He had also been responsible for the girl being alive by adding his chakra to hers to keep her alive when the Sand ninja tried to move him out of Konoha.

"Good morning, Gaara," the older blonde woman said in a polite but friendly tone.

The red haired teen looked away from the window once more to center his eyes on Ino's mother. He felt no malice from the woman so he merely nodded to acknowledge her presence. He turned back to the window after that.

"Gaara is not big on conversation, Mom," Ino said with a smile as her dad had finished up with a hug.

"Oh, I picked up on that already. I just want to acknowledge his being here in the room, Sweetie," the florist said still smiling.

Ino's father Inoichi spoke up now. "Ino, they are going to let you out of the hospital in a few days." He looked to Gaara now and spoke louder. "Gaara is being let out of the hospital as well. He is scheduled to be sent home to Suna immediately afterward."

Ino stopped and paled slightly at that news. "So soon?" she asked.

Inoichi hid a smile at his daughter's reaction. "I'm afraid so. The Sand village searched all the places the Kazekage had visited the past year. They found his body along with those of his guards. He had been dead for months. I'm sorry, Gaara."

Gaara merely nodded. The boy knew the Kazekage would be dead. He had no positive feeling for the man who sired him but even so the news was troubling.

"With the knowledge that Orochimaru had killed and impersonated the Kazekage, the Hokage decided to settle terms pretty much as they were before. Some fine points of the alliance like Konoha accepting fewer missions from the Wind daimyo will be changing over the next few months but that is for the diplomats to discuss."

Gaara kept his view out the window. He understood what Ino's father was saying. After finally making a friend, he was going to be losing her soon.

* * *

Neji was not pleased with his new assignment. Being shuffled to Team 8 as a replacement for his cousin was not what he had hoped to get in that meeting. He still had a great disdain for his younger cousin and former heir apparent for the Hyuuga clan. The introductions had gone poorly and things had gone downhill from there.

"I am Hyuuga Neji. My likes and dislikes are of no concern to you. My only ambition is to be free of the bindings that fate has decreed for me," he told the team.

"So you're Hinata's cousin huh? She talked about you often and admired your skill at your clan taijutsu," Kiba said as a way to break the ice some.

"Hinata-sama was right to admire my skill since she had none of her own," Neji said blandly.

Neji soon found himself in a staring contest with Kiba as Shino looked on. The Inuzuka boy still had braces on his arms. Team 8's sensei Yuhi Kurenai had stood back as the genin glared at one another.

"Take that back," Kiba growled.

"It is merely the truth," Neji retorted calmly. "She was flawed at her taijutsu. She would hesitate instead of striking. She was kind when she should have been firm. She …"

Neji was cut off as he was punched in the face and fell backwards to the ground. He had kept his eyes on the Inuzuka but he had not paid attention to the Aburame at all. Shino had been the one to hit him. Kiba was startled and even Kurenai was shocked by the teen's action.

"Hinata is not weak. How do I know this? She destroyed three jonin to save her team. It is not logical for you to discount such actions. However, your words are proof that you do. Therefore, I shall not suffer to hear such slander. If you insist on doing so in my presence I might find my control over my new colony of destruction bugs to be … lacking. Do you understand me, Hyuuga Neji?" Shino said in a cold voice.

Neji wiped blood from his mouth and stood back up while activating his bloodline.

"Enough," said Kurenai. "Shino, back off."

Shino nodded and stepped back to his previous location.

"Neji, you are filling in on this team for the time being. If you wish for it to be a pleasant experience, I suggest you refrain from speaking poorly of Hinata. Both of your teammates owe their lives to her and hold respect for her skills. Your skills may be greater but that should only help this team achieve greater success. If you insist on a belligerent course it will make greater failures. Do not forget, your performance with this team affects your chances at chunin. Your choice, Neji," Kurenai said with an edge to her voice.

The Hyuuga was not stupid. He had his entire team against him here and making chunin was the only way to get away from them in the near term.

"Very well, Kurenai-sensei. I shall refrain from discussing Hinata-sama. What are to be my duties with this team? I am used to being part of a heavy assault team, not a recon squad," Neji said politely.

Kurenai just nodded and began to go over the team's duties on missions.

* * *

Tenten found a completely different reaction to her presence on Team 10. Asuma and Shikamaru took to starting a game of shogi while Choji watched and ate.

"So, um, what kind of training do you do?" she asked hesitantly.

"Mainly, the team is a support level capture and interrogation squad," Asuma said as he moved a tile on the board.

"Shika would grab them, I would hold them and Ino would pull information out of their heads. It was based around the same concept that our fathers had," Choji said between mouthfuls. Ino had beaten on him enough times that he would not talk with his mouth full around girls.

"So how am I going to fit into that kind of team?" Tenten asked Choji who just shrugged.

Asuma looked up from his game with Shikamaru.

"The team will be moving toward a more combat oriented style; the same way as with the original team. Shikamaru's shadow jutsu can strangle and kill among other things in addition to holding people in place. Choji's multi-size jutsu can make him into a formidable close combat ninja. Your long range weapon skills will allow you to take out opponents held by Shikamaru or support Choji during combat," the leader said as he kept puffing on his cigarette.

Tenten just nodded. That was a role she could handle. The role she played under Guy was similar but she rarely got to do much unless the taijutsu maniacs she was teamed with let her get her weapons out before a fight would be over.

'Well, at least I won't have to wear earplugs half the time to drown out cries of 'Youth!' like I did with Guy-sensei and Lee,' she thought with a chuckle as she took a chip from the bag Choji held out.

* * *

Somewhere deep under the T&I building in Konoha were the cells for ANBU prisoners under interrogation or those simply too dangerous to send to the prison in the caldera. Danzo sat motionless in his cell as occasional guards passed by. He had lost track of how long he had been here but his will remained resolute. The cowardly attack on him by Sarutobi's minion had left him unable to unleash his true power at the meeting that was his downfall.

Without his 'good' hand to open the seals and encasement over his 'crippled' arm, all the power of the Uchiha Sharingan embedded in it was useless. When he had been processed into the prison, the ANBU had simply removed the enhanced arm from his body. The eye of Uchiha Shisui had been gouged out of his head soon afterward. It rankled on him that all of his preparations had been for naught. He could not even activate his last resort seal and die with his honor intact.

Once per day, he was taken to the interrogation chamber as multiple people tried to pull his secrets from his head. To this point, none had succeeded. The only things he had given up as far as information were things they already knew about. He would wait in silence until he died before he would betray his Root and his dreams of a strong Konoha.

The cell door opened and Danzo stood to be taken to the interrogation room once more but he was surprised to see Jiraiya waiting at the door this time.

"What do you want, boy?" Danzo growled out.

"I was just in the village and was about to leave on a mission for Sensei. I figured I would stop in and see how you were doing. You're as pleasant as ever, Danzo. I trust you like the accommodations. Much warmer and better lit than you old warren I hope," Jiraiya replied.

"What do you want?" Danzo repeated.

"All business I see. Fine, I'll be direct. I want the release sequence for the seals you placed on the tongues of your Root members," Jiraiya said in a cold voice.

"There is none. They are my soldiers and mine alone. As long as I live, they will remain mine," Danzo sneered in an arrogant manner.

"Ah, a seal tied to your life. Only you would do something that cruel. So we are at an impasse. We need to know the things you refuse to tell us. The prisoners could tell us and a few seem willing but cannot due to your seal. This makes you life worth less and less as the days pass, Danzo. If you truly care for Konoha as you claim; you would be helping us, not hindering us," Jiraiya said as he turned to leave.

"Do not attempt mind games on me boy. I have withstood such things from people who are better than you at them. Konoha needs to be strong but allowing others to gain strength as a part of that is in reality a weakness on Sarutobi's part. The Sand village turning on us is proof of that," the one eyed ninja said in haughty tones.

Jiraiya smirked. "Funny thing about that, Danzo. How do you know something that no one informed you about? That means you had knowledge it was coming but did nothing to act on it. It seems there is something else for us to learn about. I am sure Ibiki can get something out of your people with that piece of information," Jiraiya said while signaling the guards.

Danzo growled in annoyance as his normal guards took him toward the interrogation room

Jiraiya was pleased to have ruffled the old war hawk as he headed out on his mission to find Tsunade for the Hyuuga.

* * *

Ino was happy to get out of the hospital at last. The girl was glad her mother had been taking such good care of her body while her mind was trapped in with Gaara. Her mom had moved Ino's comatose form into range of exercises daily. That had cut weeks off of her possible stay in the medical facility.

In spite of the condition her body was in, she was put on 'no mission' status for the next four months. She had lost her physical edge needed for ninja duty. She realized the time off was also time to evaluate her mental state after her ordeal. She dressed calmly while her parents signed the forms for her to leave the hospital. Since she was a ninja she did have status as an adult but she still had her parents as guardians in the event of an injury where she could not make a decision. It also allowed her an additional few minutes with Gaara.

The red head stood quietly near the window as he had since he had awakened that morning. The boy was able to sleep in short spans now and not have it effect his containment of the Ichibi. The monster no longer spoke to him in his sleep since he had essentially taken its power away and claimed it for himself.

Since his awakening from the coma, Gaara remained calm and saner than he had been in years. He had grown so much in the past month it felt strange to be awake even now. But his newfound growth had other consequences. He had learned to care about another person again. Now due to that caring he was faced with losing the person he cared for.

He heard Ino pull back the privacy curtain and he glanced over at her. She had dressed in her ninja uniform before heading home. He smiled slightly as that was how she looked the entire time in his mind. The blonde girl stepped up to the window next to him.

"Gaara?" Ino said quietly. "It's time for me to get out of here."

The boy just nodded at first. After a minute he replied. "I leave for Suna once I am released. I delayed that until after you left the hospital. I will miss you."

Ino stepped closer to Gaara and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. It was the first Gaara had received in person in spite of her doing so in his mind quite often. He awkwardly wrapped his arm the girl in reply and closed his eyes to hide his pain. Ino hurriedly let go and rushed out so the boy couldn't see her tears of regret.

Once the girl had left the room, the sand holding the legs of the beds together dissolved and flowed up to Gaara's leg to wrap around his ankle. He watched Ino from the window of the room until she disappeared from sight before heading out of the room to her back to his village.

At home, Ino went ot her room before she would let her tears come freely. Her mother heard the crying and came in.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" her mother asked.

"Gaara is leaving and all I can do is watch him _leave_," the teeenage girl replied.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Ino just looked at her mother before answering. "This is Konoha. He is from Suna. I have to be here and he has to be there. We can't be loyal to what we swore to and be together at the same time."

In the end, her mother just held the girl until they both knew Gaara was gone from the village.

* * *

In the two weeks since joining Team 8, Neji had proven himself to be much more than anyone had expected. The mission performance on a simple bandit removal had gotten the team a glowing report from Kurenai. Where Hinata would have simply gone along with whatever Shino and Kiba had decided, Neji took command and directed the other boys by using his Byakugan to spot the hidden bandits. Kiba was grumbling at not being 'alpha' of the group but even he could see that Neji had more experience and ability than him. Shino just kept his quiet way about him as he trained daily with his new upgraded bug colony.

Team 10 had a similar experience on a short mission in the north of the Fire Country. A report came in of some rogue genin who survived the attack on Konoha but refused to return to Sound. The team was dispatched with a pair of military teams to capture or eliminate the rogues. The mission ended up with Shikamaru coming up with a plan to capture the enemy with no casualties to the Leaf ninja.

The Hokage was pleased that his Elites were showing leadership after the events surrounding the attack during the Chunin Exams. He made both Neji and Shikamaru acting chunin. They would hold that rank until the three month point after the team realignments; where they would receive their official promotion to chunin.

The acting ranks allowed the jonin sensei of Team 8 and Team 10 to not be needed for D-rank mission to be assigned to those teams. The jonin were suitably glad and the pair would disappear for short 'joint breaks' while their teams did the D-ranks within Konoha.

* * *

Ino sat in the flower shop of her family looking at the stock with a careless eye. She had been in a funk since Gaara had left the village two weeks prior. She couldn't even talk to Sakura since the pink haired girl was out of town on a mission. She helped the few people she saw each day as customers but she had no one to talk to. Team 10 was busy. Everyone she knew that was a ninja was still busy with repairs to the village. She was stuck on 'no mission' status for a long time yet so she could not even get on a D-rank to get out of the flower shop.

She was bored and lonely.

Her parents could do little to help in that regard, Inoichi was out helping T&I with the few captives they had and her mom was off doing 'mom' stuff with other women. However, the girl knew they were keeping an eye on her and her mental health.

'In a clan of mind walkers, of course they are going to be watching me for signs of going nuts,' she thought as she plucked petals from a dying flower she removed from a display.

Unknown to her, her father had done something that would change her boredom.

Ino heard the bell on the door ring and she looked up. A chunin stood there and looked around before spotting her and walking in her direction.

"Yamanaka Ino?" he asked in a clear voice.

"That's me," Ino replied.

"The Hokage has sent for you. Please report to his office two hours past noon," the chunin said before excusing himself.

The summons left Ino puzzled but she got a cousin to watch the store and she headed out to the Tower.

Once she arrived, she waited the few minutes until the appointed time before being ushered into the Hokage's office.

"Yamanaka Ino reporting Hokage-sama," she said in a strong clear voice.

"Ah, Ino. I am glad you got her promptly. There is one more ninja in this meeting but he sent word he is running late and stilll needed to stop for another person. So, how are you feeling, Ino?" Sarutobi said with a pleasant tone in his voice.

"Um, all right I guess Hokage-sama. Just sitting around on 'no mission' status is bugging me when everyone I know is so busy with ninja duties," she replied hesitantly.

Sarutobi nodded sagely. "We might be able to do something about that. We have had a request from the Sand Village. To further relations between our villages and so that the failure of the alliance will not happen again, they have suggested exchanging ambassadors. I have gone over our potential candidates and selected a retired jonin who has relatives there to be the ambassador from Konoha."

Ino was slightly confused by what the Hokage was telling her and was about to ask when the door opened and her parents came in. This made her wary but she kept quiet as her father trained her never speak out when confused.

"Ah, Inoichi, glad you could get here. I got your message that you would be delayed. Is everything all right over at T&I?" Sarutobi asked.

"Things are going well, Hokage-sama. We were having a productive session with one prisoner so I felt it would be pest to pursue that to the end," Inoichi replied.

The Hokage nodded.

"Now that everyone is here, I can get to the rest of this meeting. As I was telling Ino, we are sending an ambassador to Suna. However, the request for ambassadors came with an additional request. According to the note, since he left us Gaara has become 'irritable'. In diplomatic speak that means his condition is deteriorating mentally. They requested that since he called you his friend that you might travel to Suna to be closer to him. In turn, they would send Temari, the former Kazekage's daughter to Konoha. It would be a form of learning hte other village's culture."

Ino was shocked. The Sand Village had basically asked for her as part of a hostage exchange. But, in spite of that, her heart leapt at the idea of being with Gaara. She was not sure she truly loved him or if he even cared for her like that but there was something past simple friendship between them.

"Am I being sent as just a hostage or as a bride, Hokage-sama?" Ino asked in a whisper.

Sarutobi could see the girl did not quite understood the situation.

"You will not be a hostage and are certainly not being sent as a bride. Ino, I know this is something that Konoha normally does not do. Officially, each of you would be listed as the aide to the ambassador. I consulted with your father on this matter first and he indicated that you might be open to going so I am leaving the final choice to you."

Ino looked back at her parents. Both were smiling at her. She felt their love and approval of her.

Buoyed by their faith and want for her happiness she looked back to the Hokage.

"I'll go Hokage-sama," she said as she smiled for the first time since Gaara had left.

* * *

Jiraiya left the fourth town in as many weeks since he had begun his search for Tsunade. His blonde teammate was proving more elusive than he had hoped. So far none of his normal contacts had anything close to a warm lead for him. Tsunade was not using her skills as a healer for anyone in recent months. That means she had established a line of credit or gotten a large jackpot and was simply hitting the gambling halls. A change of plans was in order. Those would be his next object in his search.

* * *

Gaara stood out in the open desert near Suna watching the sun set. The sand beneath his bare feet was comforting to him. Shukaku was always quietest when he was among on the dunes. The sound of footsteps in the sand reached his ears but he did not turn to see who approached. No one ever dared approach him. Too many people had been injured or killed by him over the years of his life.

His sand whipped up in defense at first but slowly expanded to close in on the person approaching. The steps kept coming closer before stopping a short distance away. Whoever was there was just waiting for him to turn. After the sun had slipped below the horizon, he turned to see the purple clad kunoichi who haunted his brief dreams.

For a moment he thought it was a trick of the sun but after blinking and looking again he spoke.

"Ino?" he asked.

The girl smiled. "Hi Gaara," she replied with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked still stunned seeing the girl there.

"The Council of Jonin here asked if I would come here to Suna to keep you company for a while. Um, they said you needed a friend. So I figured I would see if we still are. … Friends I mean."

Gaara took a few steps toward Ino but she stayed still. The sand in the air around them settled to the ground as he moved to an arm's length away.

"I missed you," he said simply as he closed the final bit of distance to hug the blonde girl. She in turn held him tightly as both let out a few tears of happiness.

They held each other until long after the sunset faded to blackness.

* * *

Next Chapter: Madness

* * *

**Author Notes:** It has been a while for this update. I only hold on to my explanation that writing fan fiction does not pay the bills. Work does. Of late, I have been more worried about losing my job than I was for writing. Fear of unemployment makes for a severe lack of inspiration.


End file.
